


What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose. (BOOK TWO)

by captainmgh120



Series: What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Next Gen (2018)
Genre: Angst, Developing Friendships, Family Drama, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Friendship/Love, Harry Potter Next Generation, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Inter-House Unity, Not Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Compliant, Ravenclaw, Ravenclaw Rose Weasley, Ravenclaw Scorpius Malfoy, Romantic Friendship, Slytherin Albus Severus Potter, scorose
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:48:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 22
Words: 35,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24934783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainmgh120/pseuds/captainmgh120
Summary: This is Book 2 of "What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose."It follows Rose and Scorpius (sometimes Albus) as the make their way through Years 2-4 at Hogwarts.*This does not follow Harry Potter and the Cursed Child canon. That entire plot is rubbish.*I do not own any rights to the characters created by J. K. Rowling.
Relationships: Albus Severus Potter/Original Male Character(s), Harry Potter/Ginny Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Scorpius Malfoy/Rose Weasley
Series: What's in a Name? That Which We Call a Rose [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/269413
Comments: 3
Kudos: 14





	1. Chapter 1

Book 2

Chapter 1

Rose's POV

Rose and Albus gave their parents a quick goodbye hug and kiss and rushed to get on the Hogwarts Express. They clambered up the stairs. Rose turned to wave once more to her mum, dad, and little brother. Hugo was sad he wasn’t old enough to go to Hogwarts yet. Rose’s mum was hugging him and waving to her. Rose smiled and turned -- she was ready to see her friends and start classes again.

Rose and Albus wandered down the aisle, looking into compartments for their friends. About halfway down the third car, they spotted Magnus Smith and Scorpius Malfoy sitting together. Albus hooted and rammed the door open, making Scorpius jump. Rose giggled. 

“Albus! Rose!” cried Magnus in his warm and amiable voice. He wrapped his arms around Rose and Albus in greeting. 

“Hi,” said Scorpius. 

“Scorp!” Albus said, smiling broadly. 

“Hi, Malfoy,” Rose said, a sudden rush of shyness passed over her. Rose noticed that he had grown taller and skinnier since the last time she saw him. 

“Er, how were your summers?” Rose asked the two boys, taking a seat next to Scorpius. Albus dropped his bag on the floor and sat next to Magnus. 

“Great!” began Magnus. “My dad took me to a football match in Spain!

“Mine was good too,” added Scorpius. “I mainly just practiced Quidditch.”

There was a knock on the door, and Beatrice Murray waved to them. Rose opened the door for her and gave her a massive hug. She had missed her best friend over the summer. Rose would have invited her to her house to stay for a week or two, but Beatrice went off a long holiday with her parents to visit family in America.

“Tell me all about the States!” exclaimed Rose.

The five of them jumped into companionable conversation as the train took off.

After an hour or so, Rose pulled out her copy of “Hogwarts: A History” to read. She soon lost track of time and noticed she was hungry when the candy cart witch rolled by, asking if they wanted anything. Rose’s mum had packed her an apple and some nuts to snack on, so she shook her head no. Scorpius got up and bought an armful of sweets and snacks. He gave some to everyone, handing Rose a chocolate cauldron. He went back to his seat and picked up the book he was reading. Well, he was re-reading “Quidditch Through the Ages.” Quidditch tryouts were in two weeks. Both Scorpius and Albus were going to try out for their teams. Rose knew Scorpius had been practicing like crazy over the summer. He had written her a letter about his practices with his dad and how he had even practiced with the Potter’s over the break. 

Rose wouldn’t admit it to herself, but she was a little jealous that Albus had been able to see their friend. She went back to reading while Albus and Magnus talked about muggle sports. 

They finally arrived in Hogsmeade. The first years were collected, and everyone else directed into horseless carriages. The carriages began magically moving along the path through the woods. As the trees started to thin, Rose could see twinkling lights coming from the windows of Hogwarts. She couldn’t wait to see her friends and be in the Ravenclaw common room again, peering out at the night sky. She was in her home away from home. 

***

As they entered the Great Hall, Albus veered off to the right to sit at the Slytherin table with his friends. Frankie Longbottom waved at Rose and Scorpius from the Slytherin table. Rose sat down at the Ravenclaw table, with Scorpius beside her. Their friends welcomed them with hugs and lots of waving. Rose looked up and saw the 1st-years being herded up to the front of the hall by Professor Longbottom. A jolt of sympathetic anxiety washed over Rose as she remembered how nervous she was last year at her Sorting. 

After a and a song from the Sorting Hat, the Sorting began. The houses welcomed their new member with joyous applause, and soon enough, a feast appeared on the tables before them. Rose ate her fill and began feeling very sleepy. Professor McGonagall said a few words about classes, rules, and expectations. She wished everyone a good year and instructed the Prefects to lead the first years to their new common rooms. 

Rose was looking forward to classes in the morning. Professor Patil, the Head of Ravenclaw House, passed her and Scorpius a schedule as they exited the Great Hall. 

“See you both in class in the morning,” said Professor Patil. Rose looked at her schedule; Charms was her first class of the day. Rose smiled at Professor Patil and made the familiar climb to the fifth floor of the West Wing with her Ravenclaw friends: Scorpius, Beatrice, and Magnus. 

They arrived at the bronze eagle knocker guarding the common room. It asked them:

_ It has been around for millions of years, but it is no more than a month old. What is it? _


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Scorpius's POV

Scorpius had been preparing for months for the Ravenclaw Quidditch tryouts. The dreadful seeker from last year had graduated, and the position was open. Scorpius knew from overhearing older students that a couple of them were going to go for the position. Scorpius knew he was pretty good, but didn't know how he would compare or if his nerves would get the better of him. 

On the morning of the tryouts, Rose made Scorpius eat some scrambled eggs and toast. It was probably for the best, but he was feeling slightly nauseous. 

Albus had tried out for the Slytherin team as a chaser yesterday and made the cut. Scorpius was happy for him but was suspicious that Slytherin might have let him on the team because of name recognition. He knew that wasn't fair as Albus was a naturally talented chaser, but couldn't help that it crossed his mind.

He was also nervous that even if he did fly the best, the Ravenclaw team would still choose someone else s they wouldn't have a "Malfoy" on the team… Scorpius had a handful of really great friends, but most of the school seemed to despise him or pretend he didn't exist. 

Scorpius checked his watch. It was time to head out to the pitch to warm up. Rose, Magnus, and Albus said they'd go with him for support. He gathered with his friends after Professor Binns gave one of  _ the _ most boring lectures he had ever been required to sit through. Rose had stashed some snacks in her bag and gave Scorpius an apple. 

"Eat this. For energy," Rose said. 

Scorpius took the apple from her but felt too nervous to eat it. 

"Time to go," Albus chirped. 

"Why did I sign up for this!?" Scorpius groaned.

"Because you're an excellent flyer and seeker!" replied Rose, to his rhetorical exasperation. "I'm not just saying that because...I really mean it."

As they crossed through the Entrance Hall, they passed his unsavory cousin, Aiden Zabini. He was now a 4th-year. He always seemed to run into Scorpius when Scorpius least wanted it. 

"Oi, house traitor! Shouted Zabini. Scorpius winced, wishing he could Disapparate to the Quidditch pitch. 

Zabini looked to his friends and said with a grin, 

"Look, my wee cousin thinks he can make the quidditch team as 12-year-old. He's an embarrassment to the family." His friends guffawed. 

"Go pick on someone your own size," piped up Albus. 

For the most part, Zabini and his posse left Albus Potter along, but Aiden didn't like being rebuked. 

"Harry Potter's son thinks he's something special and that he should be treated better than everyone else," Aiden said lamely.

"Just ignore them," said Rose, grabbing Albus's arm. "Let's go!" 

Scorpius didn't need telling twice. They left his arsehole cousin and exited the castle.

"I'm sorry about my prick of a cousin," started Scorpius.

"Don't even think about that right now," said Magnus. "You got bigger fish to fry."

Scorpius was grateful his friends didn't hate him. Magnus was right. He needed to focus on warming up and tryouts. There were already students flying around outside the pitch, waiting for their turn to go in for their tryout. Scorpius's friends wished him good luck and left to find a seat where they could watch. 

Scorpius warmed up for a while, then went to wait his turn by the entrance to the pitch. One of the Ravenclaw team members, a 6th-year chaser names, Marcel Becket, was standing there at the gate with the signup sheet and checking names and positions. He told Scorpius to stand by and that he would be next. 

Scorpius felt like he was waiting forever for them to let him in. Finally, the gates opened, and a 4th-year left the pitch as the new Ravenclaw team captain, Serena Barnes, called out for the next person.

Marcel walked Scorpius onto the field and told the captain Scorpius's name. Scorpius stood up straight, trying to display the confidence he did not feel. 

"Hello," he said to Serena and the other team member on the pitch. A few smiled at him. Serena checked the papers on her clipboard. 

"It says here you are trying out for seeker," said Serena. She had a no-nonsense, direct voice. "As I'm sure you saw last year, our seeker was just awful, and we are looking for one that is better by far...no offense to Martin, he was a great sport, but just absolutely horrible at Seeking. You have the right build for the job, but let's see what you're made of. First, I'd like to see you fly in a couple of different patterns."

Serena had Scorpius flying around the pitch at top speed, maneuvering figure eights, loop-dee-loops, steep climbs, and sharp dives. Next, she sent her beaters to knock him off course, but he was faster than them and avoided them. Serena released a bludger, and it took off towards Scorpius. He narrowly avoided it, and he pulled his broom up and shot towards the clouds while the bludger was recalculating its course. One of the beaters, Agnus Boone, a burly 7th-year, whacked the bludger towards Scorpius. Scorpius waited until the last second and pulled his broom backward, flipping over into a dive. He zipped past Serena, and she summoned the bludger back into her gearbox. Scorpius stopped midair, breathing heavily.

"Final challenge," called Serena. She picked up the snitch from her box and released it. It hovered in place for a moment, then vanished in the blink of an eye. Serena then pulled up a huge jar from inside her box. It had a Weasley's Wizard Wheezes label on the side that read, "Weather in a Bottle." This bottle looked like it was manufactured to extend the spell far beyond the bottle's area, being 100 times bigger than the common small bottles that students often played with it in the common room or the Great Hall. Serena uncapped the bottle, and the fumes dissipated into the open air. Seconds later, a thunder cloud appeared over the field, and rain started pouring.

"Find and capture the snitch before the spell runs out," shouted the Ravenclaw captain over the noise of the downpour and thunderclaps. 

Scorpius had not prepared for this variable. Nonetheless, he rose closer to the clouds and began scanning the pitch for a glint of gold. He flew around the pitch three times and was starting to lose hope when he saw it. The snitch was fluttering around the goalposts 20 yards ahead of him. He took a deep breath and pushed his broom forward as fast as he could. He was almost in range when the snitch seemed to notice that it had been spotted and shot upwards. Scorpius wasn't going to let it escape him. He squinted through the rain and willed his broom to go faster. He was nearly there. He extended his arm and reached as far as he dared. He felt cold metal between his fingers. He had pulled it off!

Scorpius heard and saw his friends cheering from the stands. Some of the team members were cheering too. Scorpius knew that was a good sign. Serena was smiling too. Scorpius flew over to her and handed her the snitch.

"Give us just a few moments, but don't leave yet," Serena requested as she turned to her teammates. They were eyeing him with a mixture of curiosity and suspicion. 

Scorpius dismounted and walked over to a bench to sit and drink some water. Serena approached him.

"You were our last seeker to try out today and the only one to catch the snitch," she started. "We like to have you on the team!

Scorpius couldn't believe he'd done it.

"There are some concerns," continued the captain. "And I have to be upfront with you, some of the team is concerned about what kind of reputation you will bring to the team, and a few are worried you are too young."

"I.. erm..w-w-what do you mean?" stuttered Scorpius, his excitement plummeting. 

"One or two are worried that having a Malfoy on the team will cause the other houses to play unfairly…" began Serena. "That is a concern I share, but I also say screw the past. It's not like you did anything personally in the war… and to the other point, I don't care about your age; I made the team in my 2nd year as well, and now I'm the captain. Plus, you're a natural. Anyway, I'll post the official results on the bulletin board in the common room tonight, so don't say anything to anyone yet...but welcome to the team! I have a good feeling about this year!"

Serena stood up and reached out for Scorpius's hand and pulled him to his feet.

"Erm, thank you," said Scorpius. He couldn't think of anything else to add.

Serena waved to him and walked back to her teammates. Scorpius left the pitch feeling awesome (for making the team) but also deflated for something beyond his control. It was an odd combination of emotions to process, but the sight of his friends running towards him with looks of pure joy made his darker thoughts disappear. Albus made it to him first and tackled him. 

"You HAD to have made the team!" Albus said excitedly.

"I've never seen flying like that before!" exclaimed Magnus, clapping Scorpius on the back. 

Rose smiled at him, her blue eyes beaming. 

"I knew you'd be amazing," said Rose. "What did they say to you after? Did you make the team?"

"I'm not supposed to say, but yes!" Scorpius said. It began to feel more real as he said it aloud. "Don't tell anyone yet. They are posting the results tonight."

***

Later that night, Scorpius, Rose, and Magnus waited in the common room after Astronomy class for the results to be posted. Serena entered the common room with the Ravenclaw team and a sheet of paper in her hand. People were crowding around them, craning to get the first look. The two beaters blocked people from pushing through as Serena pinned the paper to the board. Magnus got up and squeezed his way to the front as Scorpius sat frozen to the couch. Magnus returned quickly.

"You're officially Ravenclaw's new seeker!" announced Magnus. Scorpius allowed himself to smile, even though he noticed a few people eyeing him cooly. 

"Who else made the team?" asked Rose. She was asking what Scorpius was wondering too. 

"A third-year made chaser, Lauren Lynch, and a fifth-year made keeper, er… Pete Wilkinson" declared Magnus. Since learning about flying and quidditch, Magnus had become a massive fan. Magnus was super hyped up for Scorpius's success. Scorpius hoped he wouldn't disappoint him and Ravenclaw. 

A couple of people congratulated Scorpius on making the team, but mostly everyone ignored him and surrounded Lauren and Pete. Serena walked over to Scorpius. She smiled big at him.

"I can't wait to see you out on the pitch for our first practice," said Serena. "Are these your friends?" She looked at Magnus and Rose.

Scorpius nodded.

"This is Rose Weasley and Magnus Smith," he told Serena. Rose and Magnus smiled at Serena. 

"Are you Ron Weasley's daughter?" asked Serena. Rose nodded. 

"Ah! The Gryffindor King Keeper. He's got a plaque in the trophy room!" Serena said excitedly.

"What was he called?" asked Rose, sounding surprised. 

"The plaque says 'Weasley is our King' and he was a great keeper for the years he was on the team, so people called him the King keeper years after he had left the school...this is all according to passed down accounts from student to student," Serena said, matter-of-factly. "Anyway, Scorpius, here is the practice schedule. See you on Saturday!"

She handed him the schedule and moved on to join her friends.

It was getting late, and Scorpius was physically and emotionally exhausted. He wished Rose and Magnus a goodnight ad left to shower and go to sleep. Navigating around his weekly class schedule and the castle was hard enough, but Scorpius didn't know how to deal with the constant whispers and angry looks he received every day. He just wanted to understand why people seemed to hate him so much. It was too much for this 12-year-old to handle today.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Albus’s POV

Year 2 was going great for Albus. Most of the Slytherins seemed to love that they had the son of the famous Harry Potter in  _ their  _ house. Albus had even made good friends with all of his roommates, Frankie Longbottom (of course), but also Ross Tybalt, Thomas Bulstrode, and Charlie Nguyen. 

The first quidditch match of the year was quickly approaching. The Slytherin team had been practicing hard over the last few weeks. They would be playing Ravenclaw, and Albus’s captain had reported that Ravenclaw would be a much better team this year, making them tougher to beat. 

Albus was the smallest and youngest player on the team, but he had been holding his own, flew fast, and was making many goals in practice. His teammates seemed happy to have him on the team. 

Students were starting to get excited for the start of the quidditch season. The Gryffindors and Hufflepuffs had already picked which teams they’d be supporting. Most of Gryffindor seemed to be rooting for Ravenclaw, and many Hufflepuffs wanted Slytherin to win. Albus’s cousin, Dominique, told him she would be rooting for him and Slytherin, but his brother James said he would be rooting for Ravenclaw because he wanted Slytherin to be the first team knocked out of the championship. Albus wasn’t surprised, as James was a Beater for Gryffindor. 

On a different note, Albus and Scorpius had come up with an unspoken agreement. Both of them had subconsciously decided not to talk about the upcoming match against each other. Albus had hardly seen Scorpius over the last two weeks because of how much both teams had been practicing. Sometimes Albus would pass and wave to Scorpius, who was entering the pitch as he was exiting.

***

Albus woke with a start. It was game day. As he passed through the common room around midday, students were decked out in green and silver clothes and accessories. Many wished him good luck as he left the common. He was starving for lunch and was pleased to find that the kitchen staff had prepared a feast at the Slytherin table.

Soon more students began rushing into the Great Hall for lunch. The energy in the room was buzzing with excitement and mostly friendly rivalry. Albus saw Scorpius enter the hall surrounded by a small group of Ravenclaw students, mainly Rose, Beatrice, Magnus, and a couple of other muggle-born 2nd and 1st-year students.

His cousin caught his eye and broke away from the group and ran over to him.

“Best of luck, Al!” said Rose.

“Thanks, Rose,” said Albus. “Now, get back to your table before they think you’ve abandoned them for Slytherin!”

Rose laughed as she drifted back to her friends. Scorpius waved to Albus with a nervous smile on his face. Albus was about to go over to say hi to him when his team beckoned for him to join them. His teammates clapped him on the back as he took a seat next to the Morgan Porter, the team captain.

Soon it was time to head out to the pitch. The Ravenclaw team stood up together, and a wild cheer went up for the team. As they left, Ravenclaw house followed behind. Many of them singing self-composed fight songs. A lot of Ravenclaw students had created fancy banners and costumes. One 7th-year had enchanted a cape to transfigure into massive eagle wings whenever he raised his arms.

Then it was Slytherin’s turn to cheer for their team as they made their way to the quidditch pitch. Albus hadn’t been nervous until this moment with his whole house cheering him on to win. Now his heart was racing.

The sun beat down on his neck as they waited to enter the pitch. Albus wondered if what he was feeling was what the ancient Gladiators felt like before going into a fight.

They heard a whistle blow from the referee, and a wave of screaming and cheering crashed over Albus’s ears.

“Let’s do this!” bellowed Morgan, the team captain. He jumped on his broom, and the rest of the team followed his lead. They shot out onto the pitch like lightening. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Draco’s POV

Draco and his wife, Astoria, had arrived early to the Hogwarts quidditch stadium. He would not miss his son’s first quidditch match for anything. As they climbed the stairs up to the Ravenclaw box, Draco realized he had never rooted for Ravenclaw before... that was a lie, he’d cheered them on only when he wanted Gryffindor to be crushed. It wasn’t true support for the team. Memories fluttered around Draco’s mind in the quiet before the crowds started piling into the stands. Son Draco and Astoria had blended into the lively crowd of Ravenclaw students. Draco noted the Head of Ravenclaw, Padma Patil. He had never really interacted with her in his school days, but he was sure she would recognize him. 

As Padma turned to scan her students, she caught Draco’s eye. Her eyebrows shot up, but she quickly composed her face and drew a tight smile and nodded her head towards him in acknowledgment. Draco returned the gesture. Astoria squeezed his hand. 

“You can do this, Love,” his wife whispered to him. 

Since the war ended, Draco could hardly bear to face people. He was eternally grateful for the day that Astoria Greengrass had walked up to him in a shadowy corner if the Leaky Cauldron and sat down next to him just to talk. She had taken pity on him and began caring for him. She had forgiven him for all of his misdeeds and emotional baggage. As they got to know each other better, she had even helped Draco learn to forgive himself and figure out how to live peacefully in his own mind. And, most importantly, how to love with his whole being. Draco had become a different man. He was no longer the bully he used to be in his past life. 

Even though he had forgiven what had happened to him as a child and young adult, people still thought of him as a war criminal that was unfairly let off the hook for his crimes. He couldn’t blame the public, but he could not easily walk among the wizarding community. Some people would pull their children close to them as he passed. Others would cross to the other side of the road. The worst was when people accused him of abetting in the murder of their loved ones or spitting at his feet in front of his son. It broke his heart that Scorpius would have to bear some of the abuse just because of his parentage. 

These thoughts constantly cycled through Draco’s mind, and he had a hard time shutting them off.

“Oh look,” Astoria said with a hint of ice in her voice, snapping Draco out of his brooding. “Our nephew is waving to us.”

_ The little prick,  _ thought Draco. Astoria’s sister had married his old school friend, Blaise Zabini. Draco had a falling out with Blaise years ago and didn’t enjoy having to attend family functions and interact with him. It was torturous during the early years when Astoria would insist that Draco attend their nephew’s stupid little birthday parties. Also, Aiden Zabini reminded Draco very much of himself as a child; only Aiden was a bit duller and completely witless.

Astoria dutifully waved back. Draco chose to ignore the boy.

“Oh, there’s Ginny Weasley and Harry Potter… a few rows behind Aiden,” Astoria exclaimed in a hushed voice. “Isn’t it bizarre how those two are now rooting for Slytherin, and you and I are not?”

Draco nodded stiffly. He reflected on the irony of life for a moment. He began observing and comparing how different the Ravenclaw students showed their support for their team to how back in his day, Slytherin would show their support. He heard many Ravenclaw students singing songs, but they were nothing like the horrifyingly embarrassing songs he’d come up with. They were harmonizing with each other and singing hilarious rhymes about luck and talent. Many of the kids were dressed in bright blues, but waved banners of works of art, encouraging their team. Draco had always enjoyed creating things, be it songs, enchanted pins, or potions. He wondered what it would have been like if he had been sorted into Ravenclaw instead of Slytherin. Would his creativity have been valued? A whistle blew, bringing Draco out of his thoughts again. Astoria met his eyes and smiled. 

“It’s starting. I’m so nervous for Scorpius!” she said through gritted teeth.

Draco took her hand again to hold.

Slytherin shot out onto the pitch and flew a lap around the field as the crowd cheered. Draco noticed himself clapping for his old team as if no time had passed for him, and he was sitting on the opposite side of the field. The whistle blew again, and Ravenclaw’s team zipped out and took their lap around the stadium. Draco could see his young son, with his hair shining white-blond in the bright sunlight. Draco felt his heart skip a beat, a wave of pride flushed over him.

The captains of Slytherin and Ravenclaw met in the center with their teams behind as the referee said a few words.

_ Is the ref... Oliver Wood?  _ wondered Draco, leaning forward to get a better view. 

The whistle blew for the third time, the balls were released, and the game began. Within seconds, little Albus Potter, Number 6, had possession of the quaffle and darted around the Ravenclaw defense with ease. He had taken them by surprise. Draco was blown away with how much this kid looked like Harry did when he was that age. 

Albus passed the quaffle to a teammate who took a shot at making a goal, but the Keeper blocked it. Ravenclaw now had possession. Draco scanned the sky for his son, who was two hundred feet up in the air. He noticed that Scorpius was not following the game below, but instead looking for the snitch. Draco looked down again and saw that one of Slytherin’s Beaters, Number 2, noticed Scorpius up there alone.

“Shit,” breathed Draco. He pointed to the Beater and then to Scorpius. Astoria inhaled sharply.

The other Beater, Number 3, caught on to the plan and smacked the bludger towards Number 2. Number 2 aimed as Scorpius drifted high above them.

CRACK!

The bludger rocketed towards Scorpius. Draco saw his son look down and instantly veer out of the way. The Slytherin captain started yelling at his Beaters. Draco let out the breath he had been holding 

While the Beaters had been occupied, Ravenclaw had managed to get past Slytherin’s Chasers and score the first ten points.

“Those Beaters should have been faulted for that,” hissed Astoria. Draco nodded. When he was on the Slytherin team, he would have asked the Beaters to do something like that to the opposing team. Back then, it had never crossed his mind that he’d potentially be hurting someone’s child. Draco thought it was amazing how much his perspective changed as soon as he had become a father. 

Slytherin now had possession and was tag-teaming the quaffle across the pitch. It was impressive how strong of a force they were, even with a 12-year-old in the mix. Unsurprisingly, Potter’s kid knew what he was doing. This time, Slytherin got the quaffle in and won ten points. Over the next ten minutes, Ravenclaw and Slytherin scored again. They seemed to be evenly matched. Draco was impressed with Ravenclaw’s strategy. They played smart, evading Slytherin’s attempts to block them. They seemed prepared for Slytherin’s heavy offense strategy.

Suddenly, Scorpius shot forward. Draco strained to see where the snitch was in the dazzling light -- the other Seeker began speeding in the same direction. That’s when Scorpius arched backward, flipped in a 180, straightened out, and took off in the opposite direction. Draco saw a glint of sunlight reflect off of the snitch about 100 feet in front of Scorpius. Draco leaned forward, holding his breath again.

_ Go Scorpius,  _ he willed his son faster.  _ Fly!  _

Never had he wanted Ravenclaw to win so badly before.

The snitch zig-zagged across the field, but Scorpius held a straight line and shortened the distance between himself and the snitch. He was now 50 feet from it, 35 feet...the snitch abruptly plummeted towards the ground, zipping between the Slytherin Chasers. Scorpius instinctually chased the snitch, diving at a neck-breaking speed. He slipped around the Chasers and was almost in reach. 

Astoria’s nails were digging into Draco’s palm.

Scorpius leaned forward, hand outstretched. He closed his finger around the snitch and pulled up before crashing into the grass. Draco heard the sound of a CRACK. His eyes darted to the Slytherin Beater. He had just knocked the bludger directly at Scorpius after he had caught the snitch. Scorpius did not see the bludger cannonballing towards him this time. He held the snitch up high, smiling as the crowd cheered wildly. The bludger smashed into his leg. The crowd gasped.

Draco stood up sharply. He saw Scorpius’s eye widen in pain. He somehow remained on his broom, as his teammates raced to help him down to the ground. Draco looked to the referee. He was pulling Number 2 off the pitch by his ear. The Hospital Wing staff were racing across the field to reach Scorpius, who was now sprawled out on the grass, surrounded by his team and young Albus Potter. Potter, in his green robes, stood out like a sore thumb amongst the blue. 

Draco’s wife pulled his arm and quickly ran down the stairs. Draco was right behind her. Anger was beginning to build inside of him. They met Scorpius as he was being levitated on a stretcher out of the stadium.

“Stand back, please,” one of the medical staff ordered.

“That’s my mum and dad,” Scorpius said through gritted teeth. Tears were streaming down his face. Astoria rushed to his side.

“Oh! Scorpius!” exclaimed Astoria. She looked about ready to cry as well. “They take good care of you in the Hospital Wing.

“I’ll be okay, Mum,” said Scorpius, breathing heavily. Draco looked at his right leg. It was bent in a sickening direction.

“Move faster, Draco ordered the wizard who was charming the stretcher. The wizard grunted and sped up a fraction.

Draco looked behind them and saw that the Ravenclaw team was trailing not too far behind. Scorpius was rushed into the Hospital Wing. He passed out from the pain as he was lifted immediately transferred onto a bed. The head healer began casting spells over Scorpius.

“I am making sure he doesn’t remember the pain once he regains consciousness,” she explained. “He will be well cared for...please wait outside.” She said this tenderly, but in a tone that suggested she expected to be obeyed. 

Draco nodded and gently pulled his wife away from their son’s side and started for the door. He turned once more to look at his son. He knew they’d easily be able to mend a broken leg, but he was still shaken.

In the waiting sat the Ravenclaw team and Albus Potter. They looked up as Draco and Astoria took a seat on the opposite side of the room. Albus stood up and approached. 

“Hi, Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy,” Albus said timidly. “Is Scorpius going to be okay?”

Draco looked at Albus’s genuinely concerned face; his face was extraordinarily similar to his father’s.

“The Healer says he will mend just fine,” Astoria responded. Albus let out a breath he had been holding. Albus thanked them and walked back to the chair he had been sitting in, next to the Ravenclaw team. 

After about 20 minutes of waiting, the Head Healer entered the waiting room, and everyone stood up. She walked over to Draco and Astoria. 

“Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy,” whispered the Healer. “Your son will make a full recovery. Nothing to worry about; the bludger shattered his tibia, but I was able to reposition the larger bone fragments, and Skellegro will mend the rest overnight.”

“Thank you so much, Madam… I’m sorry, what is your name? You look so very familiar,” said Astoria.

“Hannah. Hannah Abbot,” the Healer said with a kind smile. “Well, now the students call me Madam Longbottom.” Her eyes flicked to Draco. 

“You may go back in to see Scorpius,” she continued. “He will be waking up any minute now.”

Astoria walked towards the patient room then turned back to face the Ravenclaw team and Albus.

“Why don’t you all come in as well,” she said to them. “I think it will make Scorpius happy to see everyone when he wakes up. 

Everyone filled through the entrance and gathered around Scorpius, who was still sleeping. Draco put his hand on Scorpius’s pale arm. Scorpius stirred, opened his eyes, and looked around at the people surrounding him. 

“Did we win?” he asked groggily.

Scorpius’s teammates laughed, and all burst into an animated re-telling of the fantastic finish. The team captain, a tall, tough-looking 5th-year, patted him on the shoulder and told him she was proud of how he played. Albus Potter hung back, out of the way, with a small smile on his face. Draco remembered that Albus had just lost his first game and must be feeling conflicted. 

After a few minutes of merriment and comradery, Madam Longbottom shooed the students away to let Scorpius rest. Albus wished him a speedy recovery and trailed behind the Ravenclaw team, who left the Hospital Wing. 

Draco and Astoria made sure Scorpius was comfortable and stayed with him for a little while longer. Draco hated that they had to leave their son so soon, but at the same time, he wanted to find out if justice had been served to the bastard who purposefully injured Scorpius.

“We should be going too now,” said Draco. “Scorpius, you played with great skill today. I am very proud of you.” 

_ Scorpius is everything I was not,  _ reflected Draco. 

He and Astoria hugged their son, and they took their leave.

As they passed through the Entrance Hall on the way to the Headmistress’s office, the Potter/Weasley clan exited the Great Hall with their children.

_ Great, this is just my luck,  _ Draco thought sarcastically to himself. Astoria placed her hand on the small of Draco’s back and kept walking. The kids ran right past without recognition. Draco saw Ron Weasley’s shoulder’s tense/ Draco collected himself and said hello and nodded his head towards his former nemeses. Ron ignored him and followed his children outside. Hermione returned a polite nod as she scratched at a large scar on her forearm.

Ginny Potter ignored Draco but gave a friendly hello to Astoria. They both worked at the Daily Profit and were acquaintances. She followed her brother and sister-in-law out of the Entrance Hall. However, Harry Potter walked right up to them with a concerned look on his face, identical to the look Albus had worn in the waiting room.

“Hello, Draco… Astoria,” said Harry. “How is Scorpius doing? Albus said he had woken back up.”

“He will be fine in a day or two,” Draco said cautiously.

“That’s good to hear. What an amazing game they played today! Your son is a natural,” said Harry. “But that was unacceptable foul from that Beater. Last year, a Chaser purposefully knocked out my son, James, with the quaffle. I felt like tearing the kid’s arm off.”

I’m feeling something similar,” admitted Draco. “Erm...Albus played really well. Slytherin is fortunate to have him on the team. Normally, I would have been rooting for Slytherin.”

“Naturally,” Harry said in a familiar bravado that made Draco’s skin crawl.

Draco narrowed his eyes slightly before continuing, “I’m glad Slytherin has him.”

“Me too,” smiled Harry. “To be honest, I never thought I’d be cheering for Slytherin, but hey -- here we are, and times have changed.” Harry chuckled. “Anyway, I’m going to go catch up with my family. I’m glad Scorpius is on the mend. See you around.”

“Take care,” said Draco. It felt weird to have a perfectly normal conversation with the man who had been the source of many of his insecurities and bad memories as a child.

Astoria took his hand as they began climbing the stairs. Eventually, they reached the spiral staircase the lead to the Headmistress McGonagall’s office. Astoria knocked on the door, and it swung open silently.

“Come in,” came the familiar thick Scottish accent of Draco’s Transfiguration professor. McGonagall had always frightened him. Draco reflexively gulped and entered the room.

“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.”

“Hello, professor,” said Draco.

How do you do?” said Astoria.

“I am old and tired, but the work never ends… It has been a long, long time since you’ve been in this room, I sense,” McGonagall directed this statement at Draco.

Draco nodded. This office looked virtually the same as when Albus Dumbledore was headmaster. Thinking of Dumbledore brought back unwanted flashbacks of being tasked to murder him.

“Your son is an excellent Seeker; I must say,” continued McGonagall. “I’m sure you are here to ask me about the incident with Slytherin’s Beater.”

“Yes,” started Astoria. “I expect the boy will be disciplined accordingly.”

“Yes, Mr. Flint will be serving detention for the next several weeks. He is also banned from playing in the next game, and the captain can decide if he likes the substitute better for the subsequent games.”

“Flint?” asked Draco. “Any relation to Marcus Flint?”

“This would be his son, William,” McGonagall informed Draco.

“Do you know why he would do this to Scorpius?” asked Astoria.

“I asked him the same question just an hour ago when the Head of Slytherin brought him up here to discuss his punishment,” McGonagall began. “It’s ugly, but I will tell you. He said he felt that Scorpius was a house traitor and that his family was…” McGonagall trailed off.

“Just tell me, I’ve heard it all before,” sighed Draco. It was as he expected. McGonagall nodded and continued.

“He believes that you are not loyal to pure-bloods, your family hedges your bets, and that Malfoys are weak. These are his words, not mine. I assure you that this type of in-fighting between houses and wizarding families is not tolerated like it used to be when you both were students. But these incidents do, unfortunately, happen occasionally.”

“Thank you for your honesty,” said Draco. The stress of the day had zapped his control over his mental health. Dark thoughts began flooding his mind. He was furious and heavy-hearted. He tried not to let it show on his face.

“I will rest easier knowing that this child is being held accountable,” said Astoria.

“I will see that Mr. Flint gets some extra mentoring from Professor Harrison,” added McGonagall. “Sometimes, there is hope, and people can change. They just need a new perspective or a good example to follow -- On a different topic, I just wanted to tell the two of you what a fantastic student your son is proving to be. He is one of the best in his year. He participates in his classes, writes elaborate essays, and exceeds at complex spells. He is also kind to other students. You should be very proud of him.”

“Thank you for sharing that with us,” Astoria said, placing both hands over her heart. “We are so very proud of him.”

“Thank you for your time, Professor,” said Draco. He dipped his head towards her and left without further ado. 

Back in the hall, Draco’s wife took his arm and led him out of the castle. 

She was his rock, and he would need her support tonight. Draco was having trouble staying in the present. He felt like breaking down right here on the Hogwarts grounds. He managed to hold it together until they Apparated back to the Malfoy Manor.

He went directly to his room. He collapsed on his bed and held his head in his hands.

_ Breathe. _

_ I am so ashamed I can’t go out to see my son play quidditch without losing it. _

_ Breathe. _

_ How can I be strong for my son when I can hardly keep it together walking through my old school. Hogwarts is full of painful memories. I feel so guilty. _

_ Breathe. _

_ Scorpius hasn’t a clue about the atrocities that I’ve done ad the crimes that have happened in this house. _

_ Breathe. _

Unwanted images of dead bodies floating over the drawing-room table… screams echoing through the manor… and blood on the floor… flicked through Draco’s mind.

_ Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. _

Draco was hyperventilating. Astoria came into their room with a cup of tea. She placed it on the bedside table, then climbed into bed. She curled up next to Draco, holding him, stroking his back. Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks. That made Draco feel guilty all over again and apologized to his wife.

“Don’t ever apologize for what you are going through right now.” Astoria kept repeating that everything would be okay and that she loved him until they fell into a restless sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Rose’s POV

It took a while for Rose to get used to Scorpius’s newfound popularity. He was something of a hero, having beaten Slytherin and having suffered an injury at the hand of a Slytherin seemed to help students decide that Scorpius wasn’t secretly evil, or whatever it was people had a problem with.

 _People are dumb,_ thought Rose to herself as a group of 4th-year girls told Scorpius that they thought he looked cute. They skipped away, giggling. Scorpius’s cheeks flushed, and he looked away from Rose. He looked about the same to her through. He was tall for 12, but he was skinny and couldn’t ever put his tie on properly. 

Rose was glad he still wanted to hang out and study with her and Albus. For a short while, she thought he would be too popular to remember her and their friends. She was wrong, however. Scorpius wasn’t entirely comfortable with all the attention he was suddenly getting. He often asked Rose to hide in the library with him, so that people would stop asking him about the moment he caught the snitch and then had his leg broken.

“What will happen if I lose the next game?” Scorpius asked Rose one day. “It’s statistically bound to happen at some point. Will everyone turn against me again?”

“We’ll get have to wait and see,” Rose shrugged. For one, she wouldn’t mind if people no longer stopped them in the halls to revel about Quidditch on their way to class. 

***

The rest of the year flew by quite literally. All Rose’s friends could talk about was Quidditch, and it was driving her insane. Even Beatrice was caught up in the madness. Ravenclaw’s team was on fire this season, only losing one game. They had won the Quidditch cup. Rose was hopeful that it would help them win the House Cup too. 

She had earned many points in her classes this year. Spells and magical concepts were coming to her even _more_ naturally to her this year. She wondered if she’d beat Scorpius’s grades this year since he had been so focused on Quidditch. However, when Professor Patil passed out heir final report cards, she discovered that they had both received O’s in every class this year. Scorpius looked over at Rose.

“Rematch next year, Weasley?” he asked, laughing.

“You’re on, Malfoy,” replied Rose. 

Albus, sitting at the Slytherin table, but right behind them, leaned over across the aisle towards them.

“You both must realize that you literally can’t score higher than each other when you are both annoying geniuses,” Albus said, rolling his eyes.

“I’m just waiting for Scorpius to slack off,” assured Rose.

“Likewise,” Scorpius said, grinning at her. 

Rose had to admit to herself that his smile was _kind of_ cute. She shook that thought out of her brain and gave her attention over to her breakfast. 

***

Professor McGonagall announced at the Leaving Feast later that night that Ravenclaw had won the House Cup for the first time in 5 years! Rose jumped off the bench and cheered with and hugged her friends. Rose couldn’t wait to tell her mum. 

After the feast, Rose left with Scorpius, Albus, Alice, Frankie, Magnus, and Beatrice to find a place in the castle to spend one last evening together before the summer break. They wandered to the courtyard and found an empty corner. They shared their summer plans and played rounds of Exploding Snap until it was late. Rose was looking forward to a break from studying, but she was going to miss this fellowship.

END OF YEAR 2


	6. Chapter 6

YEAR THREE

Chapter 6

Rose’s POV

Rose’s mum was fretting over her school robes. Rose had grown several inches over the summer.

“There no more hem to let out, we’ll have to get you new robes when we go to Diagon Alley for school supplies,” her mum said. Rose could see her mum adding this to her mental list of things that needed to be done.

They’d be going with their cousins tomorrow to Diagon Alley to get the school books and supplies for the year. Hugo and Lily were annoyed that they had to use secondhand books and robes. It’s not like their parents couldn’t afford it; they just thought it would be wasteful to buy more sets. 

Rose was excited. She loved going into Flourish and Blotts just to smell the distinct aroma of new books. Rose’s shopping list included new books, fresh parchment and quills, ingredients for potions, owl supplies for Cerridwen, and now new robes. She would also undoubtedly pop into Uncle George’s shop to say hello and maybe stop at Florean Fortescue’s for ice cream.

Rose would often accompany her dad to Diagon Alley to go to work with him during the summer, but Diagon Alley was never as exciting as when students were about to go back to school. When Rose did help out at Weasley Wizarding Wheezes, they rarely went into the other shops. If they weren’t shopping for essentials, Rose and her dad only frequented the Leaky Cauldron and Gringott’s, which Rose found very dull.

The next morning Rose and Hugo ran across the street and let themselves into the Potter’s house. They would be driving to London in their muggle cars because it was difficult to magically transport inanimate objects. It would be a 3-hour road trip. 

Rose found Albus in the kitchen with Aunt Ginny. She was packing snacks for the road trip.

“Oh, hello, Rosie dear,” said Ginny, as if Rose had just woken up in the Potter’s house and had come downstairs. 

“Rose! Did you hear? I’m getting a new broom today!” exclaimed Albus.

“You are? What kind?” asked Rose. 

Albus wasn’t sure yet and was talking about all the pros and cons of two different brands of broomsticks when Uncle Harry entered the kitchen.

“Oh, hi Rose,” Harry said, walking over to give her a quick squeeze. “Everyone, we need to hit the road if we want time to get everything today. Let’s go!” He walked over to help Ginny put their snacks into a cooler bag and brought it to the car. 

Rose and Albus climbed into Harry and Ginny’s car, while Hugo, James, and Lily ran over to Ron and Hermione’s car. Rose heard her dad from across the street say, 

“I will only stop once for a toilet break, so run, and a do your business now if you must.”

Rose looked at Albus and rolled her eyes. She shut the car door and buckled up. They were soon on their way. Uncle Harry and Albus were talking quidditch and broomsticks. Aunt Ginny spoke to Rose about what clubs she was in this year. Rose had joined the Charms Club at the suggestion of Professor Patil last year. It was fun and provided a practical application for all of the theoretical aspects she was learning about in class. Rose was also considering joining the Hogwarts Choir since her friend Beatrice Murray wouldn’t stop pestering her to join. Rose told her aunt that she was nervous about joining the club because she felt like she didn’t know the first thing about singing and wasn’t very good, to begin with…

“You’ll never know if you don’t try,” Ginny said. “You may have a hidden talent!” 

This encouraged Rose.

True to his words, Ron stopped only once halfway to London for a single toilet break and got a cup of coffee. The kids switched cars, and they were back on the road. Ron chattered away about the joys of driving a muggle car, all the while, Hermione never let go of the car door handle, knuckles white. 

_ He’s seriously turning into Grandad Weasley,  _ thought Rose. 

By lunchtime, they had reached London and found parking. Soon enough, the Weasley/Potter clan was passing through the Leaky Cauldron. The bartender greeted Rose and Albus’s parents like old friends. Maybe they were, or maybe they weren’t. Rose often found it challenging to go about her business whenever her parents and Uncle and Aunt were out in public. At least twice every half hour, someone would approach them and ask for an autograph or a selfie. Her dad  _ loved  _ it whenever this happened. His favorite was signing Chocolate Frog cards. It made Rose feel incredibly awkward. Her mum was kind to those people but usually hurried the interaction along faster than her dad.

Ron stopped to chat with the bartender, and Hermione told him she would take the kids to get started on their errands. Ron said he would catch up with them in a few minutes.

Behind the Leaky Cauldron, they found the brick that opened the way into Diagon Alley. The street was bustling with students and parents rushing about, laden with bags and boxes in their arms. 

“Let’s start with getting your new robes, Rose,” said Hermione. Hugo groaned.

“Can’t I go to Uncle George’s instead?” begged Hugo.

“No, your robes need to be rehemmed.” 

Why can’t I get new ones? This is my first year at school!”

Their mum was deaf to this kind of whining. And Hugo plodded along behind her.

They walked into Madam Malkin’s. Much to Hugo’s dismay, they had to wait in a small queue before they could be assisted by Madam Malkin and her apprentice.

Rose gazed out the window as she waited. She saw two heads of silvery blond hair flash by the window of the shop.

_ Was that Scorpius?  _ wondered Rose. In their first year, as they had become better friends, they had agreed to keep their friendship a secret from their parents because they both knew their dads did not like each other. 

Rose wanted to run outside and see if it was him, but then her mother would know something was up.

“How may I help you today?” asked Madam Malkin, making Rose jump, having zoned out.

“Hello,” Hermione said brightly. “My daughter needs new Ravenclaw robes, and my son needs old robes to be resized a little. It’s his first year.”

“Of course, said the seamstress. “Step over here onto the platform, and my assistant will take your measurements.”

After Madam Malkin got what she needed, she informed Rose’s mum that the robes would be ready to be collected in a couple of hours. Hermione thanks her and paid in advance. They left the shop to go get more items on their list. 

Rose’s da was waiting for them outside Flourish and Blotts. Ron took hold of Hermione’s hand as they entered the bookshop. Rose inhaled deeply, then noticed her mum doing the same. The smell had a calming effect on her. Hermione handed Rose her list of books she needed for the year, and Rose took off to the 3rd-year textbook aisle. 

As she rounded the corner and sidestepping a stack of books on the floor taller than her, she crashed into a boy who dropped every book he was carrying.

“Merlin’s beard! Rose?!” exclaimed Scorpius Malfoy. She started laughing and rushed in to give him a quick hug, forgetting that both her parents were in the store and most-likely Scorpius’s parents too.

“I’ve missed you!” cried Rose. She looked down at the mess she’d caused and bent down to pick up her friend’s books. The first book she picked up was titled “Home Life and Social Habits of British Muggles.”

“You’re __ taking Muggle Studies this year? No way!” Rose said in disbelief.

“Erm...yeah. I don’t know that much about muggles, and I want to know more,” Scorpius said in all seriousness.

“Erm... okay. What other elective did you pick?” asked Rose.

“Care of Magical Creatures,” said Scorpius.

“Oh good! I’m taking that too,” said Rose. She began pulling her own books off the shelf.

“What’s your second elective? Asked Scorpius.

“Ancient Runes,” replied Rose. “My mother told me all about it, and it sounds really interesting.

“My dad told me he took Ancient Runes, too,” remarked Scorpius. “He says he still uses it whenever he is researching alchemy.”

Rose was pulling her last book off the shelf when her mum appeared at the end of the aisle. Rose jumped and pretended to be looking for another book, and Scorpius turned away, examining the opposite shelf.

Hermione narrowed her eyes ever so slightly, then called out to Rose.

“Come along now, we need to make a few more stops.”

Rose willed her mum to leave, but Hermione didn’t move. With her mum staring directly at her, she couldn’t say anything else to her friend. Rose picked up her stack of books and brought them to the register. As her mum and dad were paying, she turned around to try to spot Scorpius. He peeked out from behind a bookshelf and winked and waved goodbye to her. She smiled and blew air through her nose in a quiet laugh, making her mum look back at her. 

“What is it, Rose?” asked her mum.

“What? Oh, nothing…” Rose said, ears turning pink. She let her long hair fall over her ears to hide her dead give-away ears. 

Ron hefted up Rose and Hugo’s bag of books and went on their way to the next shop.

They met Aunt Ginny and Lily, eating ice cream outside of Florean’s.

“Where’s Albus and James?” asked Hugo.

“They just went over to Quality Quidditch Supplies,” answered Aunt Ginny. “They’re going to be a while, I’m thinking.

“Hugo and I can go help them,” said Rose.

“Now it’ll just take them longer,” joked Ginny. Rose and Hermione laughed, knowing that Aunt Ginny was right. Rose knew that James would want to show his uncle a new beater bludgeon; Albus would still be trying to decide over the finer points about which broom was better, and Uncle Harry would be examing new models of snitches. Unfortunately, Hugo had chosen to support the Chudley Canons like his father and wanted to get some merchandise to bring with him to school. Ron would be more than happy to oblige. 

Ron snorted then left with Hugo to find the Potter boys. Rose went into the ice cream parlor and bought a scoop of her favorite flavor; mint chocolate chip ice cream.

“Did you get all of your supplies?” Ginny asked Rose when she returned to the table outside.

“Just about. I still need to get new parchment and quills...and pick up my new school robes,” said Rose. “Oh, and I want to see if Uncle George is at his shop.”

“We’ll go there when your dad and brother leave the quidditch store,” replied Hermione. “We can go to Scribbulus Writing Implements for your parchment and quills while the guys drool over brooms; it’s right next door.”

“We’ll come too,” said Ginny. “I think one of my kids needs ink. Might as well stock up.”

Rose and Lily linked arms as they walked down the cobblestone road. Rose was glad Lily would be at Hogwarts this year. Lily was her favorite girl-cousin. They chatted about what Hogwarts was like and what house Lily might be sorted into. They also liked to talk about popular muggle boy bands. 

After they got their writing supplies, they went into the quidditch store to see what was taking so long. Uncle Harry was sitting in a chair near the front of the shop with an exasperated look on his face. He caught Ginny’s eye, got up, walked to her, and said something in a hushed voice. He then turned to Hermione.

“He can’t decide on a broom. I’m done trying to help him decide.”

Rose looked over to her cousin, who was standing by a large display case. He could not decide if he wanted a Firebolt 360 or a Nimbus 5000. 

“I’ve told him numerous times that they are essentially the same broom, but that didn’t help,” Harry said, sounding frustrated. Aunt Ginny pushed her shopping bags into Uncle Harry’s arms and marched over to her son.

“Albus, you need to make your decision now. We can’t stay here all day,” Ginny said in her, ‘you better listen to me now’ voice. Rose walked over to look at the brooms Albus was trying to decide on. They looked almost identical, except that the Firebolt was oak-colored, and the Nimbus was ebony-colored.

“The shop keeper said that the firebolt is faster, but the Nimbus as smoother turning,” Albus said. Rose could tell he was distressed about potentially picking the wrong one. 

“Albus, which one looks better to you?” asked Ginny. “I’ve flown on both, and they are both very good brooms. Either one would be a major upgrade from what you fly on now.”

“Erm… I guess I like how the Firebolt looks sleeker and more sporty…” he said hesitantly.

“Great! Then you should get that one,” declared Ginny. She waved to the shop keeper and told Ablus to tell him which broom he selected. Albus told him he wanted the Firebolt.

“Thank Merlin,” said the shop keeper said under his breath. It was just loud enough that Rose heard it. She giggled, then turned to look for her dad, Hugo, and James. They were at the back of the shop watching Chudley Canon re-runs on an old muggle television. Hermione walked over to them. Rose followed.

“You must have been loads of help,” whispered Hermione to Ron. She patted his cheek.

The shop keeper brought out Albus’s new broom from the back storeroom. Ginny paid for it. It was an early birthday present for Albus this year. 

Ron walked up to the counter to buy Hugo a Chudley Canon shirt and poster, then they were on their way again. Rose’s mum popped into Madam malkin’s and came out a minute later with two large bundled under her arms. Rose dad took the bundle from Hermione, and they made their way back to the Leaky Cauldron. They’d be staying the night before making the drive back to Godric’s Hollow in the morning.

With all her school supplies gathered, the excitement Rose was feeling was almost too much to bear.

_ Seven more days!  _ thought Rose, before drifting off to sleep.

***

Rose passed through the bricks onto Platform 9 and ¾ with her little brother. She scanned the platform. She did not see Albus yet. His parents sometimes ran late. She and her brother hugged their parents and listened to their mini-lecture on behaving and studying hard. Then they climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express.

She found an empty compartment and looked out the window at the bustling scene of children saying goodbye to their parents. Out of train smoke, she caught a glimpse of her friend, Scorpius Malfoy, passing through the enchanted entrance to the platform with his mother. Scorpius was wearing muggle clothes. Rose smiled and settled into her seat on the Hogwarts Express. 

Momentarily, Scorpius walked past Rose’s compartment. Rose jumped up and opened the door.

“Scorpius!” Rose blurted. He turned around.

“Rose!” exclaimed Scorpius. “I was looking for you and Albus!”

“I’m in here! I haven’t seen Albus yet. Hopefully, he’ll be here soon,” said Rose. “My brother is here with me. Rose turned to go back into the compartment. Scorpius followed her in. 

Hugo looked up warily as Scorpius entered.

“You’ve met Scorpius before, at Christmas Quidditch,” said Rose.

“Hello, Hugo,” Scorpius said, looking a bit awkward. He placed his bag down and sat across from Rose. 

“Hello,” returned Hugo, shyly. 

“Where are Albus, James, and Lily?” Rose wondered aloud as the train blew a warning whistle.

“Lily said she wanted to sit with me on the train,” Hugo whispered to Rose. He looked up at her with big brown eyes. 

“Wherever they are, I’m sure they’ll get here in time,” Rose replied. 

There was a rap on the compartment door. Rose turned to see who it was. Albus and Lily burst through the door, looking frazzled. The Hogwarts Express blew it’s final whistle and began rolling. 

“Thank Merlin, we made it in time,” exclaimed Albus, gasping for air. Lily went to sit down by Hugo.

“Where were you?” asked Scorpius as Albus sat down next to him.

“Well, if it wasn’t for James, we would have been on time,” said Lily. The annoyance in her voice was palpable. 

“He couldn’t find his Quidditch robes. We were all searching for them. My mum and dad were even trying to summon them, but they wouldn’t come,” said Albus. 

“He forgot his robes at our grandparents’ house,” Lily drawled, rolling her eyes. 

“So Grandma Weasley will be sending them to Hogwarts this week. Mum was raging all the way to King’s Cross,” said Albus. 

“And dad was speeding down the motorway. It’s a wonder we didn’t get pulled over,” Lily said, swishing her bright red hair over her shoulder. She pulled out a box of Chocolate Frogs from her bag and gave some to Hugo. Hugo unwrapped one.

“Oh...wow. I got dad...again,” said Hugo unenthusiastically. Everyone laughed. They settled into their compartment, and soon Beatrice and Magnus found them. The hours on the train passed by quickly. 

As the train began to slow down, two identical first years with mops of dark honey-colored hair peeked into the glass window on the compartment door. Big grins washed over their faces. Hugo and Lily jumped up and opened the door.

“Lorcan! Sandy!” exclaimed Lily, hugging each boy. 

Rose said hi to the Scamander twins. 

Hugo would often be over at the Scamander house to play, or the twins would be bouncing around Godric’s Hollow with Hugo and Lily. They piled into the already jam-packed compartment. Rose was squished up against Scorpius and Beatrice.

“We’re almost to Hogwarts!” exclaimed Lorcan. 

“Are you guys nervous about the sorting?” Lysander asked Lily and Hugo.

Lily shook her head, but Hugo nodded. 

The train came to a stop, and Albus flung the compartment door back. 

“Okay, everyone out! Too many people…”

***

Rose felt a sense of belonging as she sat down at the Ravenclaw table with her friends. She looked over and saw her cousins at the Gryffindor table having a happy reunion, and she saw Albus being encircled by his Slytherin friends. After a few minutes, it seemed like everyone had found a seat. She noticed the empty space at the head of all four tables. She felt a pang of anxiety for her Hugo and Lily. The doors to the Great Hall opened by magic, and Neville Longbottom marched through followed by forty new 1st-years. Rose wondered if she had looked that small and young two years ago.

After another rendition of a song about unity and House qualities, the hall went quiet as the Sorting ceremony began. When it was Lily’s turn, she marched right up to the front and sat on the stool. A couple of seconds later that hat shouted,

_ GRYFFINDOR! _

Rose was honestly not surprised. Gryffindor House cheered wildly for her. Rose was happy for Lily. 

After a few more kids were sorted, Lorcan Scamander was called forward. The hat sat on his head for a while, then opened its mouth to yell,

_ HUFFLEPUFF! _

Lorcan smiled broadly as Hufflepuff cheered and clapped for him. Then it was Lysander’s turn. The hat sat on his head even longer.

_ RAVENCLAW! _

Rose cheered along with her house and smiled at Lysander. He looked pleased. 

Finally, towards the end, Hugo was called up to the front. Rose leaned forward to see better. Beatrice put her hand on Rose’s shoulder in support. Professor Longbottom placed the hat on Hugo’s head. The hat took much longer than either of the Scamander twins. Her heart was beating heavily for her little brother. The hat then came back to life and shouted,

_ HUFFLEPUFF! _

Rose looked for her brother’s reaction. The Hufflepuff table was cheering joyfully. Hugo looked a little dazed, but smiled and went to sit with Lorcan and his new house. Rose cheered for her brother and meet his eye. She smiled at him, and he smiled back at her in a reassuring way. After the clapping stopped, there were only a few more kids to be sorted. That included Lucy Weasley, another of Rose’s cousins. Lucy was Uncle Percy and Aunt Audrey’s daughter. She was sorted into Hufflepuff as well. She looked happy, and Hugo looked excited that she was in his house too. Seeing them sit together and talk, made Rose feel better.

Rose was relieved when the sorting ended and the feast appeared in front of her. She ate her fill and began feeling very sleepy. Headmistress McGonagall said her usual spiel about classes and rules, then dismissed the 1st-years, then the rest of the student body. Rose collapsed into her bed, exhausted, but excited about class in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Scorpius's POV

Scorpius rose from his four-poster bed early on his first day of classes. He was delighted to be back among his friends. It could get lonely during the summer at the Malfoy Manor. His 3rd-year roommates were still sleeping. He tip-toed out of the room and down the staircase to the boys' washroom.

After a shower, Scorpius found some snacks in the common room. He watched the sunrise from the east window as the early-risers began milling about the airy and elegant space, preparing for the first day of the school year. After a while, Scorpius turned to see who was in the common room. He noticed a small girl sitting in a corner, sniffling. She appeared to be a 1st-year. No one else in the room seemed to notice her distress.

_ Oh, dear…  _ thought Scorpius, deciding to walk over to check on her.

"Hi… are you alright? Scorpius asked as he approached the girl. She sniffed and quickly wiped her eyes.

"I-I-I'm okay…" said the girl, in a shaky voice. She was definitely not okay.

"You're a first-year, aren't you?" Scorpius asked gently. She nodded. "Are you missing your home?"

"Yes, Hogwarts is really far from my parents."

"You sound Irish. Is that where you're from?" the girl nodded again and let out a small sob. "What's your name?"

"My name is Aoife. What's yours?" she asked, sniffling. 

"I'm Scorpius. It's a funny-sounding name, I know," joked Scorpius. 

"I don't know anyone here, and I only just found out about magic. I don't know if I should even be here," Aoife said in a rush.

"Oh, so you're muggle-born," Scorpius asked. Aoife looked at him in bewilderment. He felt slightly stupid for saying that out loud. "I mean, you don't come from a magical family?" She shook her head.

"That's okay, there are loads of kids here like you."

"Are y-y-your parents magical?" she asked him. 

"They are," said Scorpius. "Look, you will get to know your classmates today, and you'll make friends. I can introduce you to my friends too. I know some new 1st-years who you'll see in your classes. One of them just got sorted into Ravenclaw as well!"

Scorpius stood up and helped the tiny girl up to her feet.

"I'll show you where to find the snacks in the common room," he said to her.

More students had begun appearing from the dormitories. Many were leaving for breakfast in the Great Hall. Scorpius spotted his friend, Rose, walking down the girls' dormitory staircase. He waved to her, and she walked over to him.

"Good morning," Rose said cheerfully. Scorpius knew she wasn't a morning person, but also knew she was very much ready to start new classes today.

"Hey, Rose, said Scorpius. "Erm, I met a 1st-year this morning, and she doesn't know anyone yet, so I said I'd introduce her to you and the others." He cocked his head towards the small girl who was peering over the snack table. "She was crying, and I wasn't sure what to do."

"I'll talk to her," said Rose, looking around Scorpius's shoulder.

"Hi there, "Rose called out. The girl looked up. Rose went over to her. "My name is Rose Weasley.

Scorpius left Rose talking to the girl while he went to collect his school bag. He met Magnus in their shared circular room. He was struggling with his uniform tie.

"There's got to be a spell for this," Magnus muttered to himself. Scorpius laughed.

"Oh, hey, Scorp!" said Magnus. All of Scorpius's friends, except for Rose, wound up calling him by his least favorite nickname, although he had grown used to it. Rose would call him Malfoy or Scorpius. 

"Hey! Did you sign up for Care of Magical Creatures? Scorpius asked Magnus.

"Yep, I can't wait."

They both left the room together and found Rose and Aoife.

"Magnus, meet Aoife. She's new to the magical world. As a muggle-born, maybe you can fill her in?"

Aoife smiled shyly at Magnus.

"Totally! Do you know the way to the Great Hall yet? Magnus asked in his enthusiastic manner. Magnus came from a non-magical family and had struggled to fit in at first at Hogwarts.

They left the common room together. The 3rd-years pointed out classrooms and told Aoife about the castle. After introducing her to other 1st-years, such as Hugo, Lily, and the Scamander twins, they directed her to her first class and gave her instructions on where to go after that.

"Just stick with one of your classmates," suggested Rose. 

Magnus encouraged her to makes friends with her deskmates and as many nice people as possible.

After that, they made their way to double Potions with Gryffindor. Scorpius never really liked sharing classes with Gryffindor because, of all the houses, they were the worst about picking on him for being a Malfoy, a son of Death Eaters. But even sharing this class with them wasn't going to dampen his excitement to be learning. They were to be covering the Shrinking Solution and the Undetectable Poisons this semester, along with other interesting potions.

As they entered the Potions classroom in the dungeons, a boy called out to Rose. 

"Oi, Rose Weasley. Why don't you ditch those losers and come sit with me?" said the boy, head-tossing a fringe of wiry mouse-colored hair out of his eyes.

Rose scoffed.

"I wouldn't sit next to you even if Professor Summer's paired us together, McLaggen," Rose said in disgust. 

Rose pointedly sat down next to Beatrice, who was snickering into her shoulder. Scorpius and Magnus sat at the table next to the girls, and Scorpius purposefully glared at Cormac McLaggen Jr.

"Just ignore him," hissed Rose. 

"You didn't," challenged Scorpius.

A couple more students shuffled in, distracting Cormac from thinking of anything else to say to the Ravenclaw group. Scorpius spotted Albus's muggle-born cousin and nodded hello to him. Joseph Dursley saw him and came to sit at the table behind Scorpius. 

"Hi, Scorpius," said Joseph, dropping his Potions textbook as he pulled it out of his bookbag. 

"Hi, Joe," replied Scorpius. "How was your summer?"

Joeseph smiled and opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off as Professor Summers waltzed into the room, arms laden with ingredients.

"Welcome to your 3rd year at Hogwarts. This year, Potions class will be even more demanding and will require your utmost attention," Professor Summers chirped. Many students groaned. Scorpius saw Rose sit up straighter on her stool. Summers continued.

"Many of the ingredients and concoctions we will be working with will be more complex and dangerous," she smiled.

After a quick roll call, they began class. Professor Summers gave a lecture on the uses and properties of wormwood. A key ingredient in the Shrinking Solution. Scorpius learned that the native plant was becoming increasingly rare in the UK, but herbologists across the nation were involved in restoring it. It could be grown domestically. In fact, Professor Longbottom had a beautiful collection of the shrub in his greenhouses. The plant contained the compound, Absinthin, which had a distinctly bitter flavor.

An hour and a half later, the class was dismissed with an extensive homework assignment due by the next lesson. Many students around Scorpius were already starting to complain about Professor Summers, but he honestly felt energized. He wanted to go see the Wormwood shrub in the greenhouses. 

3rd-year Ravenclaw's next class was Defense Against the Dark Arts, so they began climbing the magical staircase to reach the Third floor. Ravenclaw shared this class with Slytherin.

As Scorpius, Rose, Magnus, and Beatrice rounded a corner, they spotted Albus and Frankie Longbottom. They rushed over to them. Albus soon had them all trying to guess what their boggart would turn into. They were ecstatic for this year. It was said that 3rd-year DADA was very hands-on. Then as they were taking their seat at the front of the room, Albus began telling them about the Transfiguration class he was just in. They started talking about Animagi, and Albus was fascinated. Scorpius thought it sounded really intriguing and began looking forward to Transfiguration too.

Professor Dean Thomas glided down the small staircase from his office in style.

"Greetings to you all," Professor Thomas said in his deep, warm voice. Year 3 is one of my favorite grades to teach. I hope each of you will enjoy it as much as I do, work hard, and learn as much as possible this year."

Professor Thomas passed out a paper handout to each student. Scorpius looked down at the page in front of him. It was instructions for the charm "Riddikulus." The Boggart Banishing spell. Professor Thomas gave a short lecture on what a Boggart is and how to banish it. Then he gave the class a short reading assignment and then demonstrated the spell without a Boggart present. For the rest of the class, they worked on casting the spell and thinking of funny things to turn fear into. They would get to try it against a real boggart in the next class.

After class, Scorpius, Albus, Magnus, and Frankie couldn't stop talking about DADA class, so Rose and Beatrice left them, heading to the library. The boys went to lunch and sat at the Slytherin table. They talked of quidditch, and things like why were girls so confusing. Scorpius noticed Albus zoning out every so often, staring across at the Hufflepuff table. 

"Yo, Albus," Magnus said. "Did you hear what I asked you?"

"Huh?" Albus replied, blinking quickly. "No, sorry."

"Are you ready to try your new broom out in practice? But also, what were you staring at?"

"Maybe it's more like,  _ who  _ is he staring at!" joked Frankie.

"What!" began Albus. "I wasn't staring at anyone." His ears flushed bright red. 

Scorpius wondered if he fancied someone. He looked to the Hufflepuff table; there weren't too many students in the Great Hall yet. There were two girls at the Hufflepuff table, but they seemed to be 6th or 7th-years. A couple of 3rd-year boys, Peter Nolan and John Lee, were helping Hugo Weasley and that strange Hufflepuff Scamander twin. Lorcan had a pygmy puff on one shoulder.

Scorpius checked his watch. He had two hours before Transfiguration class. He piled a stack of finger sandwiches onto a napkin and told his friends he was going to start on his potions homework in the library. 

Some people gave him funny looks as he passed through the halls carrying a stack of sandwiches, but no one stopped him. He saw Rose and Beatrice seated at a large study table. They looked up as he approached. 

"Oh my god, you're a lifesaver!" Rose exclaimed in a whisper. She grabbed a sandwich in each hand and began to eat. Beatrice thanked Scorpius and picked one up to eat.

Scorpius pulled his Potions book out of his bag and began to read and take notes. After an hour and a half, Rose declared it was time to head to Transfiguration. Scorpius closed his book and packed up his writing supplies. Then they quietly left the library. 


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rose POV

Rose’s first day back was going well, minus the exchange between McLaggen and herself. He was probably the most insufferable 3rd year of all the houses. Even Finley O’Ryan, who didn’t particularly like Scorpius and did nothing to hide it, was more pleasant. He had even begun to speak cordially to Scorpius now that Scorpius had proven he was a skilled Seeker. But why did McLaggen always have to pick on Rose whenever she passed him in a hallway or if they shared a class? It was really uncomfortable.

Rose shooed McLaggen away from her thoughts and drifted back to this morning when Scorpius needed her to help comfort that anxious and homesick 1st-year. He was caring and genuine. And he was kinder than most of the other guys she knew.

Rose snapped out of her daydream when none other than Scorpius himself appeared in the library carrying a stack of sandwiches. She hadn’t even realized how hungry she had become.

_ How does he do it?  _ wondered Rose.

“Oh my god, you’re a lifesaver,” exclaimed Rose in a hushed voice. Scorpius gave her his cute crooked smile before sitting down. Rose tucked into her lunch, munching gratefully. Beatrice took a sandwich too. Scorpius pulled out his Potions book and got to work. Rose finished her snack and went back to writing her Potions assignment.

Soon enough, it was time for their next class. Rose stretched. 

“Time for Transfigurations,” she stated as she stood up. Her friends looked up from studying and packed their things. They left the library and meandered through the castle to the Transfiguration classroom. Rose knew they’d be starting to learn about Animagi this year. She was curious to learn more. She had already learned from her parents that Headmistress McGonagall could transfigure into a cat. There were people in her Uncle Harry’s family that could also change into animals at will.

Professor Harrison was already there in the classroom. He was chatting with early-comers. He was one of those younger cool professors that inspired students to try to reach beyond what they think they can do. He was strict, but also kind and super helpful. Rose was initially intimidated by him in her first year but had come to really respect him and his teaching style by the end of her first year. Rose also noticed this year that he was what women would call good-looking. Rose was starting to notice how cute certain boys were and how attractive some men were. 

“Hello there,” Professor Harrison called out to Rose, Scorpius, and Beatrice. 

“Hello, Professor,” they chimed back.

Beatrice saw her friend Stella Anderson and went to sit next to her. Rose and Scorpius went up to the front row of desks. More students rushed in and began taking their seats. 

Professor Harrison cleared his throat. 

“Welcome to 3rd year Transfiguration,” he announced. “I am glad to have you all back in my class. We will be covering much this year on transfiguration and animals. This process is very complex, so I will need your undivided attention. Do you understand, Mr. O’Ryan and Mr. Lewis?” The professor eyed the two boys who always cut up in the back of the room. He launched into his lecture on the theory of Animagi.

The topic was vast. Rose wondered if Animagi was similar to whatever it was Teddy Lupin was. She raised her hand to ask.

“Professor, did you teach Teddy Lupin?”

“Yes, he one of my best students,” replied Professor Harrison.

“Are his abilities to change his appearance related to Animagi?”

“That’s a great question,” remarked Professor Harrison. “Let’s go on this tangent for a moment. The biggest difference between Metamorphmagi, which is what Teddy Lupin is, and Animagi is that Metamorphmagi are born with the ability to change their appearance at will. And Animagi can only take the form of an animal after having gone through extensive steps to learn how. And in Teddy Lupin’s case, I believe the ability was passed down from his late mother, Nymphadora Tonks. Metamorphmagi is quite a fascinating topic in the study of Transfiguration. But now back to Animagi, which is just as interesting…” He went back to his slides and depictions. 

Rose’s arm was beginning to tire from taking notes when Professor Harrison told them that he would have to finish the theoretical lecture the next time they met for class. Rose was grateful class was over because she was beginning to feel braindead and hungry. 

“Let’s go find Albus,” said Scorpius.

“Maybe he’s in the Great Hall,” suggested Rose. “I’m starving again.”

***

They found Albus sitting alone at the Slytherin tab;e and went to join him. He was reading his Transfiguration textbook and sipping pumpkin juice. He looked up when they said hello.

“I’m going to learn how to become an Animagus!” declared Albus, grinning broadly.

Rose’s eyes widened in surprise. She glanced at Scorpius. He looked about as shocked as she felt. 

“Erm, okay,” began Scorpius. “That is very ambitious. Professor Harrison said that not many wizards or witches can achieve it.”

“He also said that it takes years and special permission from the ministry,” added Rose. 

“I don’t care how long it takes me,” Albus said with gusto. “My grandfather was an animagus, and my dad’s godfather was too. I can do it too!”

“Okay...I’ll be there for you and try to help if I can,” said Rose.

“Me too,” added Scorpius. Rose could tell that he didn’t think this was a good idea for a 13-year-old, being that the process was very dangerous, but Albus had made up his mind.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Scorpius’s POV

The next day, Scorpius parted ways with his fellow Ravenclaws after History of Magic and headed towards the Muggle Studies classroom. He had no idea what to expect. When he entered the room, he saw devices and technology. Some familiar and some unknown. He found a seat towards the back of the room. He didn’t want to stand out in this class. Only a few students had signed up for it this year. He recognized Violet Porter from Slytherin, Peter Nolan and Elizabeth Belby from Hufflepuff, and Amelia Bones and Robin Fenton from Gryffindor. Most students thought Muggle Studies to be a boring and pointless class, but Scorpius noted that none of them had actually taken the class before. 

In Scorpius’s family, he was essentially isolated from any sort of interaction with the muggle world. His parents saw no reason to go out of their way to deal with muggle things because they were “wizards,” which made them unique and privileged, as Scorpius’s mother would occasionally tell him. What Scorpius knew of the muggle world was what Magnus, Rose, and Albus had told him about. He wanted to know more, so he signed up for the class without a second thought. 

The Muggle Studies professor walked into the classroom, turned at the front of the room, and faced the 6 students in the room.

“Hello all,” he smiled cheerfully. “My name is Professor McMillan. I am the Head of Muggle Studies here at Hogwarts. Other professors assist in other non-magical studies, like music, art, and astronomy, to name a few, but I teach the general course. I am pleased that each of you has signed up for it. Now we will do a roll call so I can put a face to your names. I was surprised to see some last names that I recognized…”

He began calling out names from a sheet of parchment. He paused briefly before calling out Scorpius’s name, eyes narrowing as Scorpius raised his hand. The way the professor looked at him made him feel like shrinking behind his desk.

“Here,” Scorpius said, his voice faltering. Professor McMillan nodded crisply.

“Let’s begin,” said the professor. 

After an hour lecture on general yet interesting facts on muggles and their oblivion to the magical world, the class ended. As the small group began leaving, Professor McMillan stopped Scorpius.

“May I speak to you briefly, Mr. Malfoy?” he asked. Scorpius nodded and gulped. He walked up to the teacher’s desk. 

“If I may be frank, I did not expect a Malfoy to sign up for my class.” 

Scorpius stared at him with a blank expression. McMillan chuckled.

“I have heard from other professors that you are bright and talented at whatever you put your mind to. Why are you interested in Muggle Studies?” asked McMillan.

“Erm...I guess I want to know more about their world--some of my friends talk about things that I didn’t even know existed,” explained Scorpius. It got easier to express himself as he talked. “Many of my friends are muggle-born, and I just want to know more.”

The professor listened to him with a slightly suspicious look on his face.

“Knowing what your father was like when we were both students makes it all the more surprising that you are interested in this subject. But, I am pleased you are,” said McMillan. Scorpius didn’t know how to respond.

“Anyway,” continued the professor. “I will see you next week, and don’t forget your readings and your assignment.”

Scorpius nodded and left quickly. This professor clearly didn’t like his father. It made Scorpius wonder what his father was like when he was at Hogwarts. 

Scorpius aimlessly wandered around the castle. Eventually had found himself in the trophy room. He wandered over to the Slytherin wall and traveled the dates all the way 20 plus years. He saw a moving picture of the Slytherin Quidditch team of 1993. He spotted his 13-year-old father in the front row next to the captain. Scorpius was startled by how much they looked alike. Scorpius continued to look for other mentions of his father. He spotted his name and another photograph of him in a list of Slytherin Prefects. His father would have been 15. His demeanor was completely different from how he carried himself now. Scorpius’s father looked haughty in this photograph. It made him wonder what his father was actually like when he was at Hogwarts. 

After a few minutes on contemplation, Scorpius left the trophy room and because to head back to the Ravenclaw common room, lost in thought. He got to the eagle brass knocker, and it asked him:

_ I have cities, but no house. _

_ I have mountains, but no trees. _

_ I have water, but no fish. _

_ What am I? _

Scorpius feeling overwhelmed, sat down next to the door, and closed his eyes. He didn’t feel like figuring out a stupid riddle right now.

***

Scorpius opened his eyes, waking with a start. Rose was poking his shoulder. 

“What are you doing out here?” she asked him.

“I must have dozed off…” Scorpius said. “What time is it?

“Time for Charms, let’s go!” answered Rose. “I can’t believe nobody else woke you up…”

As they were walking towards the Charms classroom, Scorpius turned to Rose.

“Do you ever wondered what your parents were like when there were here as students?”

“Erm, sometimes,” agreed Rose. “Some professors will say things like, ‘Oh, you’re so much like your mother’ or ‘your parents inspire me.’ It’s rather annoying. My parents have a lot of expectations for me to behave and excel in school. I think it’s so I don’t make them look bad or something… but I wish I could just be an ordinary student without famous parents.” Rose used air quotes when she said “famous” parents. “What makes you ask, though?”

Scorpius nodded, thinking about how different their connection to their parents happened to be. 

“I know my dad wasn’t well-liked among students outside of Slytherin, and it makes me wonder sometimes...what did he do to be so disliked, even hated,” said Scorpius. “My Muggle Studies professor pulled me aside today to tell me he was shocked that a ‘Malfoy’ would even consider taking his class.”

“That seems judgemental of him,” said Rose, her eyebrows furrowed. 

“It’s fine, I don’t really care, but it made me wonder about my dad, he admitted. “And I don’t know if he would honestly tell me what he was like in school.

***

Charms class was easy and enjoyable. Scorpius forgot about his feelings of doubt. They learned the charm, Lumos Maxima. Scorpius even earned 10 points for Ravenclaw for making the brightest illumination. Rose looked vexed with Scorpius for acquiring the Head of Ravenclaw’s house favor in class today. Charms was usually where Rose shined. This small achievement, please Scorpius, who was competitive by nature. He noticed a familiar look of determination cross Rose’s face. He suddenly noticed that she looked beautiful, with her frizzy red hair falling across her cheek, and her blue eyes were sparkling in the light emanating from her wand. This momentary feeling confused Scorpius.

_ Why did I just think that? Rose is my friend,”  _ he wondered to himself. 

He looked at Rose again. She made a funny face, sticking out her tongue at him. It was normal again, just his best friend.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Albus’s POV

It was only Wednesday, his third day of school, and it was already off to a weird start. He couldn’t stop thinking about wanting to become an animagus and also wanted to know why he couldn’t relate to his friends’ comments about finding certain girls cute or whatever. He didn’t see it, but he did notice how his eyes kept wandering to boys in his classes. He wondered if he might be gay. 

Albus’s parents had talked to him about puberty at different times over the last couple of years and had told him that he might start to feel attraction or something more than just wanting to be friends with girls  _ or  _ boys and that it was completely normal. It still made him feel weird about how he kept noticing how someone’s hair moved in a breeze or how the muscles moved in Peter Nolan’s neck when he stretched in class in the desk in front of Albus. 

Albus tried to dismiss these feelings, but he couldn’t get his brain to shut it off. The only thing that distracted him was hands-on class activities. Today Slytherin and Ravenclaw would be banishing an actual boggart. He was pumped. He was also secretly nervous, though, because he didn’t know what his biggest fear was and didn’t want to be embarrassed in front of his classmates. 

He left the common room with some of his Slytherin mates and went to the DADA classroom. Today, the chairs and desks had been pushed to one side of the room, and in the front of the room was a tall wooden wardrobe. All the students huddled together in the middle of the classroom, unsure of where to position themselves. 

Professor Thomas came through his office door right as the Hogwart’s clock rung the hour.

“Time to face your fears and banish this old boggart,” Professor Thomas said. He banged on the wardrobe as he finished his sentence, making the wardrobe shake and rattle. A few girls squeaked and grabbed each other hands. 

“Let’s review this spell first, then I will demonstrate.”

The students chanted the spell, and Professor Thomas corrected a few pronunciations. 

“Very good...Now pay close attention as I face the boggart. First, you should know, when I was your age, my nuggets fear was a severed hand...but as I got older, my fear changed. What you’re about to see is personal and might be upsetting to you, but please remember that it is just the boggart trying to feed off my fear and will be perfectly banishable. Ready?”

The class nodded and took a few steps back towards the door. Professor Thomas raised his wand towards the wardrobe. 

“Alohamora,” he whispered. The door quietly opened. At first, nothing happened. Then suddenly, a scene appeared before Professor Thomas. A dark room like a cellar came into focus, then a second copy of younger-looking Professor Thomas appeared alongside a group of beings tied up with rope. This copy of Dean Thomas was struggling against his bindings, but couldn’t break free. Then, an ear-piercing scream enveloped everyone in the room, making many students jump. The terrible noise sounded like it was coming from the ceiling. 

“RIDDIKULUS!” shouted Professor Thomas in a booming voice.

The scene jumbled together and turned into Boggart troll, slipping on a banana peel.

“Line up,” requested Professor Thomas. 

The boggart morphed into a snake for Beatrice, then into a pool of blood for Ross Tybalt of Slytherin. Scorpius and Rose were in front of Albus. He was a bit curious to see what they were afraid of. Rose went up first. Her wand hand was trembling. The boggart took a moment to register the new fear them quickly transformed into a dead body. It looked like Rose’s mum, then it changed to her dad, then Hugo, then Albus saw himself on the floor. Then it turned into Scorpius.

“Riddikulus!” shrieked Rose, tears welling in her eyes. The boggart changed into a dog in a hot-dog costume. Some of the kids laughed at the silly-looking dog, but Rose ran to the back of the room.

Scorpius stepped forward and took a deep breath. The boggart frozen and then morphed into a man that looked strikingly like Scorpius himself, but older and with a glaring dark mark on his forearm. This boggart-man raised a wand and cast a Cruciatus Curse on an unrecognizable person slumped on the floor. The face could not be seen. Scorpius stood there frozen.

“Remember it’s not real, Scorpius,” called out Professor Thomas.

The boggart-man raised it’s wand again, and a bright green flash washed around the room, making a few people scream out in terror. The boggart-man used the Killing Curse on the unidentified body.

“RIDDIKULUS!” cried Scorpius, breathing heavily. The boggart shifted into an inflatable dancing man that Albus sometimes saw blowing in the wind on used car lots. Scorpius looked at Albus, then cast his eyes away quickly, looking ashamed. Albus felt bad for Scorpius, but it was his turn to face the boggart.

Albus stepped up to the front of the room. The inflatable dancing man flipped forward then as it rose back up, it turned into a dementor.

_ FUCK,  _ thought Albus. He once saw a real dementor when he went with his father to the ministry, but it was from a distance, and it was being controlled by wizards. Albus’s heart clenched up, and his finger felt icy and numb. He knew this was once his dad’s fear, but he wasn’t expecting this to be his. He honestly didn’t feel necessarily afraid of anything in particular. He did feel anxious about lots of things, though. However, this boggart-dementor was petrifying. He heard some kids scream behind him, but he felt powerless to move. He was aware of Professor Thomas shouting at him to raise his wand.

Albus fumbled with his wand and stuttered out the banishing charm, but it wasn’t strong enough. He tried again, louder this time, straining to think of a happy thought.

“RIDDIKULUS!” he bellowed. It worked this time. The boggart poofed into a cloud of smoke, and Professor Thomas sent the fumes billowing back into the wardrobe. 

“We will end it there,” called out Professor Thomas. “If you haven’t tried yet, you may do so on Friday. May I speak to you three?” Professor Thomas pointed at Albus, Rose, and Scorpius. Everyone rushed out of the room. The trio hung behind. 

“I just wanted to say that if you ever need to talk to someone about your fears or anything, you can talk to me,” offered Professor Thomas. “You all come from families where these fears were very real. I am not surprised that these fears have been passed down to you.”

“Was your fear something that happened to you?” Rose asked Professor Thomas in a whisper. 

Professor Thomas’s eyes flicked to Scorpius and then back to Rose.

“Yes,” he said, nodding. “It happened during the war. I was caught by snatchers and brought to…..well that part doesn’t matter,” he trailed off, reflecting on his fear. “I still have nightmares about being captured and defenseless and unable to help my friends. 

“My dad describes what it feels like to be attacked by a dementor,” began Albus. “Why did the boggart create the same effect?”

“A boggart will try to trick every one of your senses. They are extremely good copycats and shapeshifters. Okay, now, I have to prepare for my next class, but I’d like to say something to Scorpius in private,” Professor Thomas said to Albus and Rose, nodding at the door. 

Albus and Rose looked at Scorpius who’s shoulders were slumped and eyes downcast. They left the room, shaken. Albus had initially thought that today’s class was going to be fun, but he realized that the Dark Arts were called “dark” for a reason. He hoped that Care of Magical Creatures would cheer him up. Rose wanted comfort food, so they headed towards the Great Hall.

“What do you think Professor Thomas wanted to say to Scorpius alone?” Rose asked Albus.

“I’m not sure, but I think his boggart might have turned into his dad…” answered Albus. 

“Do you think he’s afraid of his dad or what the things his dad may have done?” Rose wondered. Albus shrugged and remained silent. 


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Scorpius’s POV

After his friends left the room, Professor Thomas beckoned him closer. 

“Scorpius, may I ask you about what your boggart turned into?” asked the professor. Scorpius nodded hesitantly. 

“I’m assuming that was your father,” he started, raising his eyebrow in question. Scorpius looked down at his shoes. The professor continued. “How much has your father explained to you of the war?”

“He doesn’t talk about it,” said Scorpius, raising his eyes to meet Professor Thomas’s. “Erm...all I know is that the Malfoy family chose the wrong side and my dad was caught in the middle and was forced to do things he didn’t want to do...at least that’s what my mother says.”

The professor nodded slowly.

“Is your fear stimulated from the rumors you’ve overheard from students?” asked Professor Thomas. “I have heard them too.”

“I guess so -- I am afraid my father has actually done the things I saw,” admitted Scorpius. The Defence Against the Darl Arts professor put his hand on Scorpius’s shoulder. 

“It’s not my place to tell you the details of your father’s involvement in the war, but I am certain your father has never killed anyone. Your father and I were never friends, but he was never evil like the Dark Lord.”

Scorpius left the DADA classroom feeling destressed. Dean Thomas’s words had made him feel a little better but also brought up more questions and uncertainty. He realized he would have to confront his dad about the past if he were to learn any of the answers, and that scared him. He didn’t know if he was ready to ask him or hear the answers yet. He also knew how students still whispered “Death Eater’s son” behind his back even though he was in his 3rd year at Hogwarts and tried his best to be friendly and non-confrontational.

Scorpius decided to skip lunch. He wasn’t feeling hungry. If the first week was anything to go by, this year would prove to be a difficult one. 

***

A few weeks later, Quidditch started up again, and some of Scorpius’s uncertain were pushed to the back of his mind. He was able to find a good rhythm between classes, homework, and quidditch practice. The 3rd-years were also allowed to visit Hogsmeade on the weekends. Scorpius and Albus had plans to replenish the stash of sweets. And Scorpius wanted to check out Zonko’s Joke Shop, even though Albus and Rose scowled at the thought of giving business to anyone other than their Uncle George. 

When the first weekend to go to Hogsmeade finally rolled around, Scorpius received his permission slip from his parents and gave it to Professor Patil. There was a feeling of excitement among the 3rd year students. 

On Saturday morning, Scorpius and Rose joined Albus and the other students as they waited for transportation to the village. They found their friends and climbed into the horseless carriages. Soon enough, they arrived in Hogsmeade. Professor Patil, the chaperone, said a few words about rules and curfew, the let the students go. 

Scorpius didn’t know where he wanted to go first. Albus began begging Rose and Scorpius to go with him to take a look at the Shrieking Shack before they went anywhere else. Scorpius reluctantly agreed. Rose sighed but didn’t argue. Albus was a thrill-seeker, but Scorpius reasoned that they wouldn’t get into too much trouble just for looking at the Shrieking Shack.

Once they got there and stared at the old dilapidated (and silent) building, Albus quickly grew bored. 

“Well, that was a letdown,” Albus said. “One day, I will knick my brother’s map and find the tunnel from Hogwarts to inside the shack.”

“Come on, let’s go back,” Rose said. “I want to go to Honeyduke’s.”

Honeyduke’s was bright and colorful. Students were pouring in and out of the shop. Rose, Scorpius, and Albus went in. They each filled a basket with various sweets and paid for them. As Rose went out the door first, and in front of the shop, she bumped into none other than Cormac McLaggen Jr. 

“Well, well. Look who it is,” Mclaggen said in his cockiest voice. “Still hanging around this Malfoy loser, huh? If you were trying to get away from him, I could protect you, Rosie.”

Rose inhaled sharply, insulted.

“Leave her alone,” Scorpius said in a low voice.

“What are you going to do about it, Malfoy?” taunted McLaggen. “I beat you in the last quidditch game; I could take you on here.”

Without thinking, Scorpius punch McLaggen in the gut. He collapsed on the ground.

“You talk too much, Scorpius said fiercely. Albus clapped him on the back and started laughing.

“Let’s go!” exclaimed Rose. She led the boys away from Honeyduke’s and headed towards the Hog’s Head. “Most students go to the Three Broomsticks and won’t think to look here first,” she explained. 

They sat down in a corner with three bottles of butterbeer. 

“Scorpius, what were you thinking?!” Rose asked in an angry voice.

“I don’t know!” retorted Scorpius. “I literally cannot stand McLaggen.

“Neither can I, but you could get in serious trouble,” said Rose. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I just want to say that I thought it was awesome!” exclaimed Albus.

“I don’t care if I get in trouble,” said Scorpius. “He had it coming. I’m sick of the way he talks to you and insults me.”

***

An hour later, it was time to go back to the carriages. Scorpius avoided McLaggen and looked at Professor Patil. She made direct eye contact with him, and ever so slightly shook her head.

“Shit,” Scorpius said under his breath.

The ride back to school seemed to take forever. When they finally arrived, Scorpius slowly stood up. Professor Patil walked over to him. Rose and Albus looked apologetically towards him, then walked a few yards away to wait for him. 

“Come with me to my office,” said Professor Patil.

 _I’m done for,_ Scorpius thought.

“Weasley and Potter, you may run along now,” said the professor. 

_Shit shit shit,_ Scorpius told himself.

A few minutes later and they were entering Patil’s office. She walked around her desk to sit in her chair. 

“Take a seat, please, Mr. Malfoy,” she said, gesturing to the chair by the desk. He sat. “A certain student came to me today and told me that you punched him, which surprised me. That doesn’t seem like something you would do, but others saw you do it.”

Scorpius didn’t move, as the Head of Ravenclaw house continued.

“For the last two and a half years, you have been an exemplary student. Why did you do this?” asked Professor Patil. She sounded very disappointed in him. 

Scorpius gulped.

“McLaggen was antagonizing Rose Weasley,” said Scorpius. “He was pretty much asking for it,” Scorpius added this last bit under his breath. 

“Regardless of the reason, said Patil, “you know we have stringent rules about violence here at this school. There will be consequences.” Scorpius nodded, feeling slightly ashamed of himself.

“Unfortunately, I am forced to take 50 points away from Ravenclaw because of this incident. I must also assign you detention, and I must consider writing to your parents,” said Professor Patil.

“Is there anything I can do so you don’t have to write to my parents?” he asked desperately. More than anything, he didn’t want to disappoint his parents because he lost his cool and hurt someone, not that he genuinely believed that McLaggen was hurt... 

Professor Patil raised her eyebrows.

“Hmm...Let me think...I suppose you could join the choir. I’m looking for more male voices, and you have friends there. I also might need you to learn guitar in the future…” she said slowly, with a wry smile playing on her lips. “It’s that or a letter to your parents.”

Scorpius nodded in agreement.

“We meet on Tuesdays at 7:00 pm,” said his professor.

“Wait, I’m in the middle of quidditch practice!” Scorpius exclaimed. 

“You’ll have to leave early or work something out with the captain,” said Professor Patil, in a tone that indicated she didn’t care that he was needed for quidditch practice. “I expect to see you on Tuesday at 7:00 for choir, and I’ll speak to Professor Longbottom to see if he needs assistance with his Mandrake crop for your detention. Off with you now.” 

She shooed him out of her office.

***

The following Tuesday, Scorpius left quidditch practice early. Serena, the 6th year captain, was annoyed about it but also impressed he punched Gryffindor’s newest keeper.

He quickly dumped his broom and gear in the locker room and ran back to the castle, not knowing what to expect. 

“You’re late, Mr. Malfoy,” tisked Professor Patil. A couple of students snickered. 

Scorpius looked at the clock on the wall. It was exactly 7:00. He spotted Rose and Beatrice, who waved and smiled at him. Professor Patil ushered him toward a tall 7th-year Gryffindor boy and asked him to help Scorpius learn the ropes. Then, Professor Patil began leading the choir in a warm-up. 

“Hi, my name is Quentin,” whispered the 7th-year. Scorpius noticed he was wearing a Head Boy badge. 

“Have you ever sung before?” asked Quentin.

“Not like this,” Scorpius gestured to the 20 or more students singing around him. Quentin nodded.

“I’ll help you more after this rehearsal with the basics,” said Quentin. “But for now, just try to follow along and match the pitch.” Quentin joined in the vocal warm-up, adding a deep bass to the ensemble. 

Scorpius quickly realized this was going to be harder than he had initially thought. He hung in there, alright, minus a few times when his voice cracked, but no one seemed to notice.

After the rehearsal ended, Quentin brought him some sheet music and briefly told him a few note letters on the page, pointing to various symbols and groups of five lines. He also gave him a muggle book on the basics of singing and reading music. 

“Professor Patil told me you are taking Muggle Studies this year,” stated Quentin. “I find music to be one of the most magical aspects of muggles. Glad to have you in choir!” 

And with that, Quentin said goodnight and left Scorpius to read. Scorpius reflected on his first rehearsal. There were students from all houses, and they seemed genuinely friendly. Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad. 

***

Before Scorpius knew it, it was time to go home for Christmas. Midterm exams were straightforward and easy, despite having extra classes and more extracurricular activities this year. That didn’t stop Scorpius and Rose from spending every free minute in the library trying to absorb all the knowledge possible for their exams. They both passed with high scores.

He wouldn’t be seeing his friends over the break as the Potter’s and Weasley’s would be spending the holiday in France this year. Scorpius and his parents would be staying home as per usual. Maybe his grandmother would stop in for an hour or two. He hadn’t seen her since last Christmas. 

Scorpius met his parents at King’s Cross Station, and the apparated him home. That evening his mother asked him how school was going.

“Year 3 is a lot busier,” said Scorpius, absentmindedly rolling peas around his dinner plate. “My quidditch captain has even been making me do extra practices.”

“Why is that?” asked his mum. Scorpius saw his dad look up from his food, interest piqued.

“I joined a club that has conflicting meeting times with quidditch practice,” he said. He forgot he was going to tell his parents about choir, but now it was too late.

“What club is this?” asked Astoria.

“Erm -- it’s choir.”

“Really?!” exclaimed his mum. “I didn’t know you liked to sing. That’s wonderful. You know, your dad actually sang and made up songs all the time when he was at Hogwarts. They weren’t the best of songs, mind you, but he has a good voice.” Astoria smiled at Draco.

Scorpius looked at his dad, who rolled his eyes and scoffed.

“My songs were awful,” admitted Draco. “It’s great that you are using your talent more productively. I’m proud of you.”

“I wouldn’t say that I know what I’m doing yet...but it’s hard to describe the feeling of being in the middle of a group of people all singing together in harmony. It’s like magic, but it’s not actual magic. You don’t think it’s stupid that I joined?” Scorpius asked his dad.

“No, I don’t,” said his dad. “If singing makes you happy or you just have fun in the choir with your friends, you should do it.” Scorpius nodded and went back to eating.

“Maybe don’t tell your grandmother that you are taking muggle studies this year,” Draco said to Scorpius after a minute of silence. She sent me a letter today confirming that she would be coming by on Christmas day. She has not reformed as much as I have.”

Scorpius looked at his dad and then to his mum. Astoria chuckled, shaking her head. Astoria and Draco’s mother did not always get along. 

***

Narcissa Malfoy arrived at the Malfoy Manor right after Scorpius and his parents were finishing up lunch on Christmas Day. She carried herself in a dignified and stately manner and had a rather cold personality. Scorpius was always intimidated by her. She was never mean to Scorpius, but he felt like he had to act a certain way that wasn’t true to himself around her. He even noticed his father had a different aura when she was around. Draco’s voice became more posh or elite sounding, and he was even more stiff than usual. Scorpius’s mum always seemed to find excuses to not be in the same room as Grandmother.

“Hello, Mother,” said Draco, as Narcissa stepped through the doorway. Draco kissed her on the cheek after she removed her traveling cloak.

“Happy Christmas, dear,” said Narcissa, casting her eyes around the room as if the walls could tell a story.

“Hi, Grandmother,” Scorpius said quietly and went over to hug her. She smelled nice, and her hug was actually warm.

“How are you, my grandson? You’re growing very tall,” she stated. Scorpius nodded. His grandmother was a tall woman, and Scorpius was almost eye-level with her. 

“How is Lucius?” asked Draco after Scorpius stepped back. He no longer referred to Scorpius’s grandfather as “father,” having lost respect for him many years ago.

Scorpius had faint memories of a harsh man with white hair. His last memory was when his grandparents were over for afternoon tea, and he fell off his broom. He was around seven years old at the time. Scorpius had nicked his forehead on a stone during the fall and told his family he was like Harry Potter now. Lucius Malfoy lost it. He bellowed at Draco and Astoria and gestured at Scorpius while his grandmother wiped the blood off his face and quickly healed him with a stroke from her wand. After that day, he never came back. Scorpius didn’t know if that was his choice or if his dad had told him never to come back. 

“He’s not much different,” answered Narcissa. “His physical health is good…” She trailed off and went to sit down in the drawing-room. That was the one room that Scorpius’s mother had not redecorated. 

“Scorpius, come join me,” his grandmother called. He approached and sat across from her at the long table.

“Tell me about your life at Hogwarts,” said Narcissa.

“Well, I’m staying very busy this year,” he started. “I study a lot with my friends.”

“What are your favorite classes? Narcissa asked, her icy blue eyes peering into Scorpius’s grey eyes.

“I’m enjoying Defence Against the Dark Arts. Professor Thomas is very good, and he makes the class super fun. This year, we’re learning about boggarts, grindylows, vampires, and werewolves. It’s awesome. He says I’m doing really well. And I like Transfiguration too,” Scorpius said in a rush. He intended to say all this in his best “proper” voice, but he couldn’t pull it off. 

“Do you like Potions like your father?” she asked, eyebrows lifting. 

“It’s okay; my Potions professor is tough and assigns so much homework, it becomes…” Scorpius trailed off, trying to think of the right word use, “tiresome.”

“I know you are very bright and do well in all of your classes,” said his grandmother. “Now, your father tells me you are excelling on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team.

Scorpius smiled. 

“Our team is up against Slytherin next, then if we win, we’ll be tied with Gryffindor, and whoever wins the final match will take home the Quidditch Cup!

“That must be exciting,” Narcissa said cooly. “I still have to wonder how you made it into Ravenclaw and not Slytherin.”

“Mother,” Scorpius’s dad entered the room. He must have been eavesdropping. He held eye contact with his mother and shook his head. 

“No, it’s alright,” said Scorpius, suddenly wanting to speak for himself. “I’m almost fourteen, I can stick up for my own house.” His dad and grandmother turned their heads sharply to him. He could feel his cheeks flushing but continued.

“I love being in Ravenclaw. For the most part, the students in my house are openminded, creatives, and helpful. That is literally how my dad and mum have raised me to be. That’s why the Sorting Hat put me in Ravenclaw. I am at the top of my class with one other Ravenclaw student. And I have good friends from all of the houses. Hogwarts today doesn’t seem like what you have told me it was like back in your day.” He took a deep breath.

Narcissa looked at Scorpius, lips pursed. His dad’s eyes softened.

“No, I believe Hogwarts is changing for the better,” said Scorpius’s father. “Students like you make it better. Mother, I originally came to ask you if you would like a cup of tea.”

“I would,” interjected Scorpius.

“Don’t interrupt,” his dad softly chided him. 

“Yes, please, Draco,” said Narcissa. Draco nodded and headed back to the kitchen. 

Narcissa got up and walked over to the fireplace and looked at the portraits on the mantlepiece. 

“I’m sorry if I offended, Scorpius,” said his grandmother. “That was not my intention.”

“No, I just,” Scorpius started to say, but his grandmother held up a hand to cut him off.

“No, you needed to say it, and I’m glad you did. I understand you better now,” Narcissa said graciously. “You are growing up, so I will speak honestly with you. I am sad to say I do not know you as well as I’d like. It is also still difficult for my old mind to understand how family tradition can vanish or change so suddenly. Most everyone in our family has been in Slytherin, and those that weren’t were ostracized from the rest of us. The connections made in Slytherin were beneficial to the family.” 

_Not for Dad,_ Scorpius thought to himself. He looked down at his hands. 

“You remind me so much of Draco when he was your age,” his grandmother said after a minute of silence. “He was always telling me of his quidditch games and what assignments were giving him a hard time. Also, Draco was always competing to be at the top of his class and was always complaining to me about he was almost top of the class but that mu -- erm, muggle-born, Granger, was always a point or two higher than him. He couldn’t stand her…” 

Scorpius looked up sharply.

“Granger? As in Hermione Granger?”

“Why yes, I assume her children must be attending Hogwarts too. Do you know them?”

This topic was dangerous territory. Scorpius’s own parents still didn’t know about his friendship with Rose Weasley, and with good reason if what his grandmother said was true. Fortunately, he was saved from answering because his mum and dad came back into the drawing-room with tea and biscuits.

“You really should hire a house-elf,” said Narcissa. Scorpius looked at his parents; house-elves were a touchy subject for them.

“No,” said Astoria. “I like doing things for myself. Tell me about the new little restaurant near your house…”

Scorpius quickly lost interest in their conversation and became restless.

“May I be excused?” he asked his dad. Draco nodded.

Scorpius ran up to his room and let his dog Bertie out into the hall. They both needed fresh air, and Scorpius wanted to try out the new practice snitch that his dad had given him this morning for Christmas. He headed for the broom shed and jumped onto his dad’s old Nimbus 2001 (as he had left his own broom at school). The cold winter air made Scorpius feel alive. After catching the snitch a couple of times, he decided to just fly over the Malfoy estate. 

Thoughts of Rose kept popping up in his mind. Why did he keep thinking about her and why in the world did he have the sudden desire to know what it would feel like to touch her bright red hair. Scorpius shook his head to clear it, but now he was thinking about her deep blue eyes and the way her nose crinkled when she laughed.

 _I must be so used to her just being around me every day or something,_ Scorpius reasoned with himself. 

“Scorpius!”

Scorpius pulled up short. His mum had used an Amplifying Charm to project her voice loud enough that he would hear her. He turned around and zoomed back to the manor.

As he landed, his mum reached out towards him.

“Come back inside, dear, the temperature is dropping, and your grandmother is about to leave. She wants to give you something before she goes.”

Scorpius dismounted and walked back inside, his dad’s broom still in hand.

“I got you a Christmas gift, Scorpius,” said his grandmother, beckoning him to her side. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a wrapped gift. She handed it to him. 

“Open it, child,” Narcissa said, pleasantly.

He tore the wrapping paper off and discovered a pair of omnioculars.

“I know how much you love quidditch,” his grandmother said. “Now you can watch your favorite team in more detail or use it to size up your competition. I hope you don’t already have a pair,” she gave him a small smile.

“No, I love it!” exclaimed Scorpius, smiling broadly. “I’ve always wanted a pair.”

He hugged his grandmother and thanked her. She said goodbye and stepped outside to disapparate back to her house.

“Well, she was pleasant enough today,” sighed Astoria. Scorpius’s dad huffed but smiled at his wife. 


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Rose’s POV

The Christmas holiday trip to France was delightful. Rose’s Aunt Fluer’s parents had a villa that had room enough for  _ ALL  _ the Weasley’s and Potter’s together. During the middle of the trip, Uncle Harry’s godson, Teddy Lupin, asked Rose’s cousin Victoire to marry him, and she said yes! The family threw a large engagement party on top of the Christmas party, and it overshadowed just about everything. It was just about all Rose’s family members could talk about. Dominique, Roxanne, and Molly were the worst. They never shut up about wedding plans. Even when everybody went back to school after Christmas, whenever Rose went to hang out with her cousins, all they’d be wondering is if Vicky would ask them to be bridesmaids, or what dresses they’d be wearing, or if they’d meet cute boys at the wedding. However, Victoire and Teddy had informed everyone who was getting ahead of themselves that they didn’t want to rush into a wedding just yet. They wanted to find good jobs and find an apartment or house first. Rose hoped that would shut her cousins up on the matter for the time being.

After all the festivities and travel, Rose was glad to be back at Hogwarts and her routine. She had been back now for two full weeks. Most of the time, Rose spent her time with Alice Longbottom and Beatrice Murray, as Albus and Scorpius were extra busy with Quidditch practices. She had to wonder when they actually found the time to do their school assignments. She felt confident about earning higher marks than her most significant competition in Potions and History of Magic this year.

At the moment, she was hanging out in the Great Hall with her girlfriends. She was revising an Astronomy essay and only partially listening to the conversation between Alice and Beatrice. Apparently, over the holidays, Alice thought Rose’s 14- year-old cousin James Potter had gotten “hot,” as did many other girls around the school. Rose heard the whispers.

“Not this again,” groaned Rose. “He’s a blockhead.”

“Rose, you’re going to hate me,” said Alice.

“What?” Rose said sharply. 

“He asked me if I’d like to go to Hogsmeade with him next weekend,” Alice said cautiously. 

“Like on a date?” squealed Beatrice. 

Alice nodded, blushing, and smiling. 

“I said I would go with him,” Alice gave Rose an apologetic look. 

“Enjoy having your IQ lowered simply by being around him,” Rose said rudely.

“That’s not fair,” said Alice, sounding hurt, but Rose quickly stood up from the table and shoved her things into her bag. She marched out of the Great Hall to walk the grounds outside.

She was flustered. She felt bad for being mean to her friend. Rose was afraid Alice would forget about her if she started dating...and why did it have to be James? Many of her classmates were getting boyfriends and girlfriends. It seemed to be everyone’s goal.

She walked to the lake and back, then went to try to find Alice to apologize. She wasn’t in the Great Hall anymore.

“Did you see which way Alice Longbottom went?” Rose asked a passing Hufflepuff student, who shook their head, no. Rose ran to the kitchens. She knew the entrance to the Hufflepuff common room was nearby. She heard footsteps coming down the hall towards her.

It was none other than her brother, Hugo, and some of his friends. Rose couldn’t remember their names, as Hugo seemed to be friends with everyone.

“Rose!” exclaimed Hugo, surprised. “What are you doing here?”

Thank Merlin!” said Rose. “Can you please go see if Alice is inside the common room? I need to speak to her. It’s important.”

“Er, sure,” said Hugo. He walked over to a group of barrels stacked against the wall and rapped rhythmically on one. An opening appeared. “Wait here, and I see if she’s here.”

“Thanks, Hugo!”

Rose sat down on an empty crate on the opposite side of the hallway. Ten minutes past before Rose heard movement. The opening reappeared, and Alice stepped out.

“Alice!” Rose stood up, and Alice narrowed her eyes at Rose. She was obviously still hurt. “Alice, I’m so sorry for what I said to you earlier.”

“Why did you say it in the first place?” asked Alice. Rose dropped her head down, ashamed. 

“I guess I was selfish,” started Rose. “I’m worried that you’ll forget about me if you start dating James… It’s stupid, I know. Can you forgive me for what I said? I don’t really mean it.”

Alice blinked a few times.

“Rose, I would never stop being your friend, even if I was dating someone,” said Alice. “Besides, I’m only going on one singular date with James. I don’t know how it’s going to turn out. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t think he is funny and cute.” Rose couldn’t help but wince when Alice said her cousin was “cute.”

“Maybe you’ll get a boyfriend soon, too!” suggested Alice.

“Boys our age are gross right now,” said Rose.

“I know you have a thing for Professor Harrison,” joked Alice. Rose’s eye’s widened in shock and amusement. 

“I’m just kidding with you, but isn’t Scorpius supposed to be turning 14 next weekend?” mused Alice. “He won’t be a gross 13-year-old then.” She started laughing at the horrified expression on Rose’s face. 

Alice hugged Rose and told her that she, of course, forgave her. They wished each other goodnight.

***

Rose realized it would be Scorpius’s birthday the same day Ravenclaw was to play Slytherin. She, Beatrice, and Magnus worked hard all week on creating a magical banner that wished him a “happy birthday” and a massage to take down Slytherin. Scorpius was so busy and catching up on homework in the library that Rose hardly saw him at all outside of classes in the week leading up to the game. 

Finally, it was game day, and the students were wired. Rose and her Ravenclaw friends spent the morning cheering Scorpius on and giving him birthday gifts. Magnus gave him a football and said he’d teach him how to play muggle football. Beatrice gave him a basket of Bertie Botts and Chocolate Frogs. Rose gave him one of her favorite muggle book trilogies, The Lord of the Rings. She thought he would love it.

Rose noticed that, even since the start of the year, Scorpius had grown more accustomed to the attention he’d received around quidditch games and being Ravenclaw’s star Seeker. He seemed as if he revels in it at times, telling anyone that would listen about all the “cool” stunt he would do in practice and previous matches. Rose figured the positive attention was mostly good for his confidence, so she never said anything about his groupies, although she found this part annoying.

The quidditch match against Slytherin was intense. Slytherin’s Chasers were dominating the field. Ravenclaw scored enough to hang in there, but it was a nailbiting game. Rose cried out many times, and Beatrice covered her eyes for almost every play. They were about an hour into the match before the Seekers spotted the snitch. Scorpius was closer and faster than Slytherin’s Seeker. The snitch was racing down towards the Ravenclaw goalposts. Scorpius was almost in range. The snitch flew just past the goal hoop on the left then abruptly shot backward past Scorpius. He reached out and held the rim of the goal and swung around to catapult himself through the goal-hoop towards the snitch. 

The crowd went wild at Scorpius’s flashy move. The only problem was the Slytherin Seeker was closing in from the other direction. Scorpius leaned forward and closed his fist around the snitch and jerked his broom out of the other Seeker’s path in the nick of time. 

The stadium exploded in a roar of cheering and red and green sparks. Ravenclaw won, just barely! The Ravenclaw team swarmed around Scorpius and lifted him on to their shoulders. Rose had to laugh at the surprise and joy on his face. There would be a lot of celebration this evening in the Ravenclaw common room.

Rose looked over to Slytherin’s team and spotted Albus. He was glowering and looked sulky. She felt a little bad for her cousin, as he had been the one to keep Slytherin in the lead for most of the game. But, she was more pleased that Ravenclaw would now be in the running for the Quidditch cup.

She watched her cousin march off the field and saw him join James and Alice on the sidelines. Alice was officially dating James. Rose knew it would happen. James had been flirting with Alice for months.

She got and from her seat and left the stadium with Beatrice and Magnus. Together they headed for their common room. They ran up the spiral staircase to the entrance to the common room. It was being held open by a 7th-year, letting whoever into the party. 

Rose and her friends entered and joined in the crowd of people cheering for their team. One of the Chasers, a 4th year named Lauren Lynch, grabbed Scorpius by the shoulders and kissed him.

_ ON HIS FUCKING LIPS!  _

Lauren pulled away from Scorpius, who looked shocked, but then he smiled. 

Rose felt a fire ignite in the pit of her stomach. She heard Beatrice gasp and giggle. Rose no longer wanted to participate in the revelry. She promptly turned and began to storm off to the dormitories. 

“Rose, where are you going?” Beatrice called after her, running to catch up.

“I don’t feel like celebrating anymore,” said Rose.

“You should stay a little while longer. It’s Scorp’s birthday, and we arranged for that cake…” reminded Beatrice.

Rose huffed in frustration. She had forgotten about the cake but also felt like Scorpius had plenty of people and admirers to sing him a happy birthday. She begrudgingly agreed to stay until they had cake.

Beatrice found Magnus, and they started dancing together while Rose sat on a couch near a wall. She sat there in silence, brooding.

Scorpius suddenly squeezed through the crowd and saw Rose. He smiled at her, and she looked away. He came to sit down next to her. His cheeks were flushed, pink shining through his pale skin.

“Hey, Rose!” greeted Scorpius.

“Hey.”

“Rose, is something wrong? I can tell when you’re bothered,” he asked her. He looked genuinely confused. 

“No,” Rose lied, feeling a tiny bit bad for potentially souring his birthday for him. “You flew amazingly out there today. Congrats on the win.”

She forced a smile out and glanced at his lips, which looked soft. And effing Lauren Lynch just kissed them. Rose blew air out of her nose in disgust and turned away.

_ Am I feeling...jealousy?  _ Rose wondered, confused why she would feel this way over a stupid kiss. 


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Scorpius’s POV

It seemed like something was bothering Rose, so Scorpius figured she maybe just needed some space. His team was beckoning for him to come back to the dance floor. His teammate Lauren smiled at him as she danced. It had completely caught him off guard when Lauren kissed him, but it felt nice. After dancing with Lauren and his team for a while, the crowd parted, and two house-elves form the kitchen staff rolled in a massive golden snitch birthday cake right up to Scorpius.

His house started singing, “Happy Birthday.” He saw Beatrice and Magnus pushed their way to the front of the group surrounding him. Rose stood behind Beatrice, singing, but her eyes were cast down to the floor. At the end of the song, he blew out the candles and thanked the house-elves. 

After he ate a piece of cake, he went to find Rose. He saw Beatrice and Magnus playing Exploding Snap off in a quieter part of the common room. 

“Hey, having either of you seen Rose?” he asked them.

“She went to bed,” said Beatrice. “Did you like the cake?”

Scorpius nodded fervently.

“It was Rose’s idea,” said Magnus, smiling at his friend.

“I wanted to thank her for making today amazing…” began Scorpius before he was interrupted by someone calling for him.

“Scorpius!” 

It was Lauren again.

“Well, thank you both for everything. It’s been my best birthday yet!” Scorpius said, truly grateful. 

Beatrice smiled and nodded.

“Don’t stay up too late, mate,” said Magnus.

Scorpius went to find Lauren. He pushed his way back into the crowd of dancers, then a pair of hands reached from behind his head and covered his eyes.

“Guess who!” said a giggling voice.

“Lauren?" asked Scorpius. The hands released him, and he turned around. 

“Come with me to the Astronomy Tower. I want to give you your birthday present,” said Lauren.

She grabbed his hand, and he didn’t resist. Lauren was cool, popular, and attractive, with long silky dark hair and warm, friendly eyes. 

They climbed the stairs to the Astronomy Tower and walked out onto the open-air platform. The stars were shining so clearly tonight.

“You were amazing today,” Lauren said, somewhat echoing what Rose had told him earlier. She was still holding his hand.

She leaned in, put an arm around his back, and kissed him fully on the mouth. This kiss was different than the quick one back in the common room. Her lips were slightly parted, her body pressed up against his. And he felt his blood coursing through his veins. He didn’t know what to do, but his lips started moving of their own accord. Lauren chuckled softly and pulled back slightly.

“Is this okay?” she asked him. Scorpius nodded. 

“You’re a good kisser,” Lauren said. “I like you, like really like you, Scorpius. Do you want to go out with me?”

“I… erm,” Scorpius’ voice caught in his throat. His brain wasn’t working properly.

“Why don’t you just think about it and let me know later,” said Lauren. She leaned back in and kissed him again.

“Happy Birthday, Scorpius,” she said, pulled away. She left him on top of the Astronomy Tower alone. His head was spinning. He laid down on the rooftop floor and peered out at the constellations above. 

*** 

A few weeks passed by, and Scorpis began dating Lauren Lynch. They would flirt with each other in quidditch practice, and Lauren would find places around the school where they could snog: broom closets and empty classrooms.

Scorpius tried to eat breakfast or dinner with his friends, but Lauren seemed always to find him and want him to herself. He new Albus was still pissed that Ravenclaw had snatched Slytherin’s chance at the quidditch cup this year, but he didn’t know why Rose was also pissed. He didn’t like it when his friends seemed upset and tried to talk to them, but they weren’t telling him what they were really thinking. 

***

Soon enough, it was time for the final match, Ravenclaw versus Gryffindor. It couldn’t have come at a worse time for Scorpius. Lauren had gotten a head cold and passed it on to Scorpius. His nose was stuffy, and his head was pounding on the morning of the game. He forced himself out of bed and went directly to the Hospital Wing. Madam Longbottom gave him a potion to drink that dulled the symptoms but didn’t provide full relief.

“There’s really no perfect cure for a head cold,” said Madam Longbottom. “Time is the best cure.”

Later, when he stepped outside, the sun was blinding. He looked over at his girlfriend. She looked miserable also. Serena, the captain, was very annoyed that two of her players had gotten sick and not in their top form for the most crucial game of the season.

“I’m sorry you two are sick, but I expect you do fly your absolute finest. I will be pissed off if this sickness messes up our chance at the Cup!” barked Serena. Scorpius sniffed. 

Gryffindor was playing to win today. Slightly dazed, Scorpius saw Serena make a pass to Lauren, but she fumbled with the quaffle and dropped it. Serena yelled in frustration when Gryffindor took possession.

Scorpius closed his eyes. The only change they had of beating Gryffindor was by catching the snitch and catching it early. Scorpius opened his eyes again and began drifting above the game. 

A flash of gold zipped past him. He spotted the snitch and saw it fly directly behind the Gryffindor Seeker, who had not spotted it yet. Scorpius moved slowly closer to the other Seeker, as to not lead her on to what he was doing. She was watching the game below and didn’t notice how close Scorpius had flown towards her. The snitch darted away suddenly, and Scorpius shot forward in action. This startled the Gryffindor Seeker, but she closed in on Scorpius’s broom tail.

The snitch dove, and Scorpius followed. It was getting closer to the ground, and it pulled up an inch from the ground. This time, Scorpius was not able to straighten out in time and crashed into the field. He went rolling and bouncing across the grass. He felt a bolt of pain in his arm, and then he wasn’t moving anymore. He opened his eyes and found himself lying facedown in the earth. His hearing came back too.

Gryffindor was erupting into celebration as they must have won the game. Scorpius’s arm was on fire, but the humiliation of this loss was worse. He lay there for a moment, then sat up. Pain shot through his arm, making him gasp. 

Serena landed next to Scorpius as healers ran out towards him on the field. A look of concern and disappointment on her face.

“Let’s get you to the Hospital Wing,” she said sighing. She bent down and reached her arm under his good shoulder and helped him to his feet.

“I can walk,” Scorpius told the healers that ran up to him through gritted teeth. Every movement caused terrible pain in his shoulder and arm.

“Lauren! Go collect your boyfriend’s broom,” snapped Serena, obviously furious. 

Lauren, who had been standing, helplessly off to the sidelines, jumped and went to find Scorpius’s broom that had zoomed off to the other side of the field when he fell. 

On the walk up to the castle, Scorpius thought briefly about how he was glad his dad wasn’t here today to see this epic failure. He wondered what Ravenclaw would be like tomorrow. He was sure he would be hated again, and it would be back to being just Malfoy, not Ravenclaw’s star Seeker. 

***

Madam Longbottom took one look at his shoulder and arm and nodded to herself.

“You dislocated your shoulder. This will be an easy but slightly painful fix. Lie down on the bed and try to relax all of your muscles,” she instructed Scorpius. She waved her wand in a flurrying of complex movements, then he felt his arm being pulled down, then with a slow and steady force, the spell guided his arm out horizontal from his body and continued to pull.

“Relax, Scorpius,” said Madam Longbottom. Scorpius took a deep breath. Then his shoulder suddenly popped back in with a jolt. Scorpius gasped in surprise. The excruciating pain had lessened immensely. Madam Longbottom smiled and began fashioning a sling around Scorpius’s torso and arm.

“It will hurt and be bruised for a while, but no serious damage was done,” said Madam Longbottom. She gave him a draft of a painkiller potion and left him to rest. He fell into a restless sleep.

He woke when Lauren came in to check on him. His head was pounding. She only stayed for a few minutes and didn’t say much. In fact, after she left, Scorpius realized that they had hardly had any meaningful conversations at all in all the time they had spent together.

Madam Longbottom came by his bed that evening to tell him he was free to leave if he wished, but Scorpius wasn’t ready to face his house yet, so he slept in the Hospital Wing.

When he woke up early the next morning, he still felt stuffy and embarrassed and asked if he could stay longer. Madam Longbottom reluctantly agreed and gave him another potion to ease his headache. 

After breakfast, Albus and Rose came to see him.

“Hey guys,” Scorpius said, hearing the congestion in his voice. He was a bit surprised that they wanted to see him right now, after avoiding him.

“How are you doing, Scorp?” asked Albus.

“I’m okay… Rose? Does Ravenclaw hate me?” he asked his friend, who had a guarded expression on her face.

“They are upset that we lost,” she started. “But I don’t think anyone hates you, Malfoy. What happened was just really bad luck.” Albus nodded in agreement.

“I’m glad you’re doing okay,” said Albus. “I just wanted to check on you. I’m supposed to go help Hugo and Lorcan Scamander with some homework, so I’ve got to go.”

“I can stay longer if you want company,” said Rose. She looked hopeful.

Scorpius immediately nodded. The Hospital Wing was pretty much empty except for a kid at the far end of the room who was recovering from a nasty jinx that backfired.

“Good, I brought your school bag so we can get some studying done,” said Rose. Scorpius was grateful for Rose’s antic in this moment. 

“Can I ask you something,” asked Rose.

“You just did,” drawled Scorpius, playfully.

She playfully punched his good arm.

“What do you see in Lauren?”

“Uhhh…..what do you mean?

“Why do you like her?”

“Er…” Scorpius looked anywhere but at Rose. He didn’t have an answer for his best friend’s question.

“No matter,” Rose said briskly. “What textbook would you like to start with first?”

She hoisted his bag onto the hospital bed and sat down at the other end of the bed by Scorpius’s feet. 

Two hours later, Madam Longbottom passed by on her way to check on the kid in the back of the room.

“My hospital is not the library, young man. If you’re well enough to study with a friend, Mr. Malfoy, you’re well enough to leave,” said the healer. She gestured to the door.

Rose gathered her notebooks and jumped off of the bed.

“Let’s go!” she said, smiling at Scorpius. 

He clambered out of the comfy bed and picked up his belongings with his good arm. 

“Thank you for mending my arm, Madam Longbottom,” he said with as much eloquence he could muster with a stuffy nose. He and Rose left the Hospital Wing together. 

“I’m starving,” declared Rose.

“When are you not?” joked Scorpius.

Rose glared at him.

“Want to get lunch? I’m sure there will be some kind of soup,” she asked.

Scorpius realized he was starving too, and soup sounded perfect. 

They headed towards the Great Hall. A couple of Ravenclaw students who passed by asked him how he was doing, but others just gave him sidelong glances.


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Rose’s POV

With final exams quickly approaching, Rose was spending most of her time cramming in the library. Scorpius had started joining her more often than he had been in the last few months. His inattention to Lauren seemed to annoy her to no end, much to Rose’s pleasure.

In fact, on this particular morning, Lauren loudly complained to Scorpius in the common room about it for all to hear.

“Why are you leaving me here?” she asked him, sounding pathetic to Rose, who was standing by the door waiting for Scorpius.

“Because you said you didn’t want to come…” Scorpius suggested, shrugging his shoulders. His voice had a subtle touch of impatience. 

“I don’t want to share you with Weasley,” she hissed loudly enough for Rose to overhear. Scorpius’s cheeks flushed pink. He breathed in sharply, in what looked like anger to Rose.

“She’s my friends, and I can  _ study for exams  _ with her if I want to,” he retorted. He turned and left his girlfriend, pouting. Rose smiled smugly and opened the door.

***

Rose and Scorpius passed their exams with flying colors. When Professor Patil passed out their report cards, they slammed them down on the table to compare. This year, Rose had earned a couple of bonus points in Potions, making her the first-time and clear winner of their little competition. Otherwise, their grades were the same 100% in everything.

Scorpius grumbled something about his busy schedule and not having time for extra credit, but Rose wasn’t paying attention. She jumped up to share the news with Albus.

“I beat Scorpius!” she squeed, flashing her least humble smile. Albus laughed.

“Poor guy, he said sarcastically. “I’m sure his ‘Oustanding’ grades are really bringing him down.” He rolled his eyes and leaned out into the aisle and gave Scorpius two thumbs up.

The day ended with Gryffindor winning the House Cup at the Leaving Feast. Rose wanted Scorpius to join her and their friends for a couple of rounds of Exploding Snap, but he said he told Lauren that he would hang out with her tonight.

Rose thought that was lame, but she still had fun with Albus, Beatrice, Magnus, Frankie and Alice Longbottom, and James. Ever since Alive had started dating James, he had begun hanging out with Rose’s group a lot more often, and he was even slightly less obnoxious. 

Rose always loved and hated the night before going back home for the summer. She was surrounded by her friends tonight, but they would miss each other over the two months apart. 

***

As the train pulled into King’s Cross Station, Rose hugged all her friends goodbye. She and Albus were bothered that Scorpius had declined their offer to sit with them and chose to be with Lauren and her 4th-yer friends. Rose didn’t know if she’d even get a chance to see him before her parents brought her and Hugo home. 

The train came to a stop, and kids began rushing out to meet their families.

“Come on, Rose,” said Albus.

“What about Scorpius? We didn’t get to say goodbye…” Rose said, feeling dejected.

“Let’s hope he breaks up with Lauren over the summer,” said Albus. Their relationship is dumb.”

“It’s superficial,” added Rose, standing up and exiting the compartment. 

She and Albus climbed off the train and saw their parents waving cheerfully at them. Hugo and Lily had already gone over to them. Rose sighed, giving up on saying farewell to her friend. She noticed Scorpius’s parents waiting for him in a less crowded area of the platform, but she still didn’t see Scorpius. She turned back and hurried over to her parents, who embraced her tightly.

“Hello, Rosie,” said her dad. He kissed the top of her head. Rose’s aunt and uncle hugged her too.

“Let’s go collect their trunks,” Uncle Harry said to Ron. 

Soon they were on their way home to Godric’s Hallow.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Albus’s POV

Over the summer, Albus realized that he was gay, and he felt comfortable enough to tell his parents. They helped him understand some of the feelings he had been having over the last year. He was relieved at how easy it was to talk to them about it, and it helped him feel more at ease in his own skin. He also came out to Rose. She hugged him and accepted the new information immediately. 

“I had an inkling,” Rose admitted to him. “But I’m glad you wanted to tell me.”

Rose also admitted to Albus that she was definitely more interested in dating boys this year than she was last year. She also told him how she felt bad that she thought less of her friends who wanted boyfriends or girlfriends. 

Albus felt like this summer allowed him to grown personally and was ready to start his 4th year with more confidence. He missed his best friend, Scorpius Malfoy. They had not been able to work out a time to hang out because of conflicting schedules (and the little fact that Scorpius’s family didn’t exactly have a great history with his own family). They did, however, maintain a weekly correspondence via the owl post. Scorpius was off traveling in the States this summer with his parents. Scorpius’s dad wanted to find some rare texts for his alchemy research. Scorpius had trouble explaining the details. It sounded complicated to Albus.

Albus was also ready to see his Slytherin friends, and he even missed some of his classes, like Transfiguration and Care of Magical Creatures. He asked his dad if everything he knew about Animagi over the summer, and Harry had told him what he knew. As Head of Magical Law Enforcement, Harry Potter dealt with several cases approving new animagi or tracking down unregistered people. His dad explained the dangers of the process and warned Albus not to attempt it unless he was genuinely prepared to do it successfully or be prepared for the consequences of messing up.

Over the summer, Albus had also done as much research as he could on cephalopods and magical water creatures. He tried to find out how the Giant Squid could survive in an inland lake in the Scottish Highlands, but there were no clear answers. Albus had even asked his good friend, Lorcan Scamander, if he could talk to his dad about his grandfather, Newt Scamander, who was rumored to have released the squid into the lake while attending Hogwarts. Although Mr. Rolf Scamander was happy to talk with Albus and had some wild stories, he didn’t know much about the Giant Squid. 

Albus was determined to find out why he had a connection with the friendly squid. He even asked his dad about being a parselmouth. His dad had looked at him funny and asked him what he wanted to know. So Albus told him about the time he went swimming with the squid and gotten in trouble with Professor Longbottom. He told his dad that he discovered that he could understand the squid’s feelings, and it seemed to understand him. His dad’s face was unreadable. Harry briefly told him about how he could talk to snakes but hadn’t tried using parseltongue since the war. 

All in all, Albus kept himself very busy over the break and was ready to get back to Hogwarts. 

***

The following week, Albus, his siblings, and cousins were arriving at King’s Cross Station. Albus felt anxious to hurry up and get going. He was excited to see his friends. Albus quickly loaded his belonging on to a trolley and charged ahead.

“Wait up, Albus!” his mum shouted at him, helping Lily get her owl cage out of the car.

Soon enough, they were on Platform 9 & ¾, surrounded by witches and wizards. Albus waved to a couple of familiar faces. His friends from Slytherin, Violet Porter, and Charlie Nguyen ran over to say hello. A cute boy from Hufflepuff waved to him. It was Peter Nolan. He saw his cousins Molly and Lucy arrive with their dad. Uncle Harry went over to talk with Uncle Percy. Albus kept his eye out for Scorpius, but he didn’t see him yet. Maybe he was already on the train…

The Hogwarts Express blew it’s whistle. It was time to say goodbye to his mum and dad and climb aboard. He hugged his dad tightly and then buried his face in his mum’s shoulder. He would miss their constant support. Albus looked up and saw tears in his mum’s eyes. 

“Don’t cry,” said Albus. “I’ll write often, and you can come see me some weekend in Hogsmeade!”

Ginny tried to fixed Albus’s out-of-control mop of hair, but that was embarrassing.

“Mum! Stop!” begged Albus.

“I will miss you,” Ginny said. “I miss all of you when you’re away.”

“Be smart, be careful, and know that we’re always here for you,” Harry told his son. “Now hurry up and get on that train!”


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Rose’s POV

Beatrice was waiting for them right inside the entrance of the train. 

“Rose!” she rushed forward to embrace her friend. Beatrice hugged Albus too. 

“Beatrice! How was your holiday in Spain? Your photos were gorgeous!” Rose asked excitedly. They chatted while trying to find an empty compartment.

As they were peering into compartments, Rose saw Scorpius. He was with Lauren, but he looked angry. They were fighting. He suddenly glanced at the window in the door, and his eyes shot open wide when he saw Rose, Albus, and Beatrice string at him. Rose bolted forward, pulling Albus with her. She was not about to get in the middle of that before the train had even left the station.

They had passed five more full compartments when they heard a door slam shut.

“Rose! Albus! Beatrice! Wait up!” a recognizable, yet somehow extremely different voice called out from behind them. Albus turned around first.

“Scorp!” he rushed forward to hug his friend. “Wow, you got really tall…”

“So did you, Scorpius said with a noticeably deeper voice. 

“Hi Rose, hi Bee,” he called over to them. Suddenly Rose felt awkward.

“Hi there, Scorpius,” Beatrice said in her musical voice.

“Er...Hi, Malfoy,” Rose said, forcing herself to try to act normal. “How did you grow so much in two months...and your voice…” she gestured, point her finger down as she said the word “voice.” She wanted to smack herself in the face. She tended to say things without tact. Scorpius laughed.

“You look a bit different than I remember, too,” said Scorpius. Rose felt an unwarranted blush creep up her neck. “Let’s find a compartment.”

“What about Lauren?” asked Rose.

“I just broke up with her,” Scorpius said unemotionally. 

“Oh…” Rose said dumbly. 

“Sorry to hear that,” said Beatrice.

“I’m fine with it. Things weren’t good anyway,” admitted Scorpius.

Towards the back of the train, they found an almost empty compartment. It was occupied by Hugo and Lily, who had run ahead when Rose had stopped to greet Beatrice. Albus opened the door. 

“Everywhere is full,” Albus told his sister and cousin. “Can we sit with you?”

Lily got up and went to sit next to Hugo, and they both pushed over to make more room.

The train started up and began picking up speed. Beatrice began reading a copy of the Quibbler, Hugo and Lily played Wizarding Chess, and Albus and Scorpius told each other stories of what happened over the summer. Rose sat back and unconsciously began studying the changes Scorpius had gone through over the summer.

His eyes were the same grey eyes that seemed to absorb the hue of whatever colored light was around, but his hair was longer, sometimes falling across his eyes. His cheeks and chin had sharper angles, and any amount of baby fat that might have been there last year was gone. Suddenly Rose realized Scorpius Malfoy was _hot._ She looked away quickly, feeling her cheeks flush again. Rose decided to close her eyes and take a nap. She sat there and wondered how much she had changed over the summer. The hem in her robes needed to be let out four or five inches, so she was definitely taller too. Her mum had also brought her bra shopping over the summer because her trainer bras were not working anymore. So she had changed in that respect, and she liked the way her curves made her look. She wondered if her cheeks were as round as they were last year or if she had become more womanly.

She woke with a start as someone banged on the door. It was the trolley witch. Scorpius Albus and Hugo jumped up to buy treats. Scorpius handed Rose a box of Glacial Snow Flakes and a Chocolate Frog.

“You like these, right?” he asked her, looking into his eyes, eyebrows raised. Rose smiled.

“I do like them; thank you,” she replied. 

“Oi, Bee?” called Albus from the hall. “What do you like?”

“I like the pumpkin pasty,” Beatrice said enthusiastically.

They enjoyed their sweets over the next hour as the sunset behind the mountains. They would be arriving in Hogsmeade soon. The train finally came to a stop. The new first years gathered around white-haired Hagrid. He waved to all the Weasley’s and Potter’s he spotted. All the other students went to get in the horseless carriages. Albus spotted the Scamander twins and gestured for them to come over. They joined the group on the carriage.

“Hi Lorcan, hi, Sandy,” Rose said cheerfully.

“Hi everybody,” they said simultaneously. After brief small talk, Lorcan and Lysander began explaining that invisible beasts called thestrals were pulling the carriages, and only people who have witnessed someone die could see them. Their mother, for instance, could see them.

“So my dad could see them for sure,” Albus said in wonder, looking at the blank space where a horse should be. 

“Definitely,” said Lysander. Rose could only tell that it was him because of his blue-lined Ravenclaw robes. 

“Pretty much all of our family could technically see them, I suppose,” pondered Rose. “That’s depressing.”

Everyone was silent for a few minutes.

“We’re almost there,” said Beatrice, breaking the silence.

Sure enough, lights started appearing through the trees. The castle was alight, welcoming them home.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Scorpius's POV

The last few hours had been weird for Scorpius. This day had started with his girlfriend (now ex-girlfriend) pretty much pouncing on him in the train station in front of his parents. It was embarrassing, to say the least. He got her to give him some space to say goodbye to his mum and dad, then they got on board the train together and went into an empty compartment. Lauren immediately pulled Scorpius into a kiss, but he pulled away from her. 

Scorpius thought about how he had got into an argument on the train. 

“Stop it!” Scorpius had said icily. 

"But I've missed you."

"You've hardly spoken to me for two months."

"But I thought about you every night," she said.

"Is that all I am to you?" Scorpius asked incredulously. "A person to snog?"

"No, you're a nice person," started Lauren, but Scorpius cut her off.

"Name one thing I like to do in my free time, and don't say quidditch."

Lauren stared at him, then her eyes narrowed. She was angry now.

"I don't have to answer a stupid question like that," she snarled.

"Because you don't know me!" Scorpius said emphatically. "And I hardly know anything about you. I think we should break up."

"What!? Are you dumping me? You've got to be kidding me," Lauren started. She continued to yell at him, but he didn't remember the specifics because he was done with this relationship...and then there was Rose Weasley. She stood frozen in the hallway peering into the compartment with a look of surprise on her face. Albus and Beatrice were on either side of her. Scorpius didn't register it at that moment, what was different about Rose, but he felt like a bolt of lightning struck him. Her eyes met his, and she dashed away, down the aisle.

Scorpius turned back to Lauren, who was still huffing and puffing about Scorpius not knowing what was good for him or something and that he had ruined quidditch for her.

"Like I said," Scorpius doubled down, interrupting her midsentence, "we are over." And with that, he picked up his bag from the seat and jerked the door open and slammed it closed behind him. He rushed forward to catch up with his actual friends. He called out their names.

Albus had crashed into him, squeezing the air out of his lungs.

"Wow… you got really tall," said Albus. Scorpius was now almost the same height as his father.

"So did you," Scorpius said to Albus. "Hi Rose, hi Bee," he called out to his other friends. Rose looked at him with her striking blue gaze.

"Hello, Scorpius!" said Beatrice. He looked over to Beatrice; she always had a contagious smile.

"Er… hi, Malfoy," said Rose softly. Scorpius smirked when she called him by his last name.

"How did you grow so much in the last two months? And your voice…" she bluntly, trailing off, pointing down toward to floor. Much of his awkward voice cracking had begun towards the end of last school year and over the break. It was starting to settle now.

"You look different than I remember, too," he had told her, hoping that it didn't come across in the wrong way. "Let's find a compartment."

"What about Lauren?" asked Rose.

"I just broke up with her," he said. He didn't want to think about her.

"Oh…" Rose said.

The rest of the trip felt like old times for Scorpius. It got a little strange when the Scamander twins brought up how only people who could see death could see thestrals, and Rose had pointed out that most of their parents must be able to see them. Scorpius didn't know for a fact that either of his parents could see then, but he had an inkling that his father probably could. He knew his mother was evacuated from the castle during the Battle of Hogwarts, but his father was there for the whole thing.

After the Sorting Ceremony, Professor McGonagall made a historic announcement. She told the school that Professor Binns would finally be retiring and that History of Magic would be restructured this year. Everyone cheered loudly. Binns was dreadfully dull. McGonagall explained that the course would be taught by a series of guest-lecturers who would share the personal accounts and their knowledge of magical history. Scorpius noticed how Rose was on the edge of her seat. Even though Binns was an awful teacher, Rose loved the class material and often read Hogwart: A History for fun. Scorpius was sure she would shine with new teachers and new perspectives.

By the end of the feast, Scorpius was really looking forward to his bed. He told his friends he was going to bed and climbed his way up the familiar spiral staircase of the Ravenclaw tower.

***

The first few months of school went by well for Scorpius. Even quidditch practice with his ex became less awkward, especially after Lauren began dating some 6th-year Hufflepuff and stoped looking daggers at Scorpius for entire practices. He was actually happy to be single right now. He was able to put extra time into studying or being with his friends.

And now with the new spin on History of Magic, suddenly it was many students' new favorite class. That was certainly the case for Rose, who thrived on interactive lectures. The Hogwarts board of governers arranged for different guests to visit every week. 4th-years were currently focusing on the Goblin Rebellions. They had Goblins come in to tell their side of history and the descendants of humans that could recount stories told by their forebearers. Rose's uncle Bill Weasley had come in for one lecture, and he works closely with Goblins for Gringotts. Then Rose's mother had come in on another day as an expert in the field of relations between wizards and magical creatures to speak on how wizards and goblins came to pass laws that strove to achieve equality between races.

Rose sat in the back of the classroom when her mother was there. Scorpius sat in the front with Magnus. The topic was fascinating, but Scorpius found it slightly difficult to focus on the substance of the lecture because Hermione Granger-Weasley sounded exactly like Rose. She was passionate about this subject and was able to get the students to understand why this history was important to know and how it was relevant in their everyday lives. The wizarding community interacted and relied on goblins every day, whether wizards were aware of it or not.

After the Goblin Rebellions, they were to hear accounts of the life and events surrounding the notorious Gellert Grindelwald, which would tie them into the First and Second Wizarding Wars after Christmas break.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Albus’s POV

The first half of the school year was nearing its end. Things were going well for Albus. He had come out to some of his more trust-worthy cousins, Scorpius, Frankie and Alice Longbottom, Beatrice, and Magnus. As well as his brother and sister. They were all very supportive of him, and he was grateful they were his friends. Beatrice and

Alice had even given him advice on what to do about his current crush on Peter Nolan. According to Alice, she had found out Peter was gay last year and thought that Albus should go for it. She and Beatrice said they would try to help him come up with a way to interact with him... they suggest he try to sit by him in one of their double classes. So he did, Albus and Peter had become friends, and Albus tried his best to flirt with him subtly, but wasn’t sure if it was working. Alice told him that if a situation ever arose where Albus needed a date, he should just ask him. Hogwarts was actually planning a Winter Ball this year, so he thought he might try asking Peter to be his date soon.

What was more difficult than having romantic feelings for someone was trying to get his Head of House, Professor Harrison, to agree to guide him through the process of becoming an animagus. Harrison didn’t outright refuse, but he felt like Albus was too young and that he wasn’t the right person to teach him since he wasn’t an animagus himself. Albus decided he would request a meeting with the only animagus he was aware of, Headmistress McGonagall. He wasn’t sure when he’d ask her, but it would have to wait until after Christmas break.

In other news, Albus and Rose were both jointly annoyed with Scorpius because he agreed to accompany his ex-girlfriend to the Winter Ball. She came weeping to Scorpius one evening in the library, crying about how her Hufflepuff boyfriend broke up with her and how she couldn’t find a date. Albus suspected Scorpius agreed to take her just to shut her up in the library as she was risking getting them thrown out. But he still thought Scorpius was too forgiving, and Rose just wanted “to punch a bitch.” Albus noticed how much more bothered Rose was by all this, and it made him wonder if Rose actually like liked Scorpius… He was attractive, super-nice, and funny.

A few days after Lauren had successfully trapped Scorpius from getting asked out by anyone else, Rose approached Albus and Scorpius in the Great Hall and informed them that she had a date for the ball.

“Who is it,” Albus asked eagerly. He noticed Scorpius staring at his book harder, eyes not reading.

“I’m not going to tell you and ruin the surprise,” she said mysteriously and with a hint of indignation. She turned on her heels and headed off in the direction of the library.

“I don’t understand girls,” Albus said, confused as to why his cousin was acting the way she was.

“I don’t either,” agreed Scorpius.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

Rose’s POV

Rose was angry that her friend was going back to someone that didn’t value him or his friendship. She had hoped that he might have asked her to the dance (as friends), but that was no longer an option, thanks to that skank, Lauren Lynch. Rose had decided to try to make the biggest statement possible. 

The day after Lauren had begged Scorpius to go with her to the Ball, Rose marched up to Corman McLaggen Jr. and asked him if he’d go with her to the Winter Ball. He nodded instantly but was so surprised that he said nothing.

“Good, then it’s settled,” Rose said briskly and business-like. “I will meet you in the Entrance Hall at 7:00 the night of the dance.” She left McLaggen standing alone in the hall.

***

The night of the Winter Ball arrived, and Rose was getting ready with her friends in one of the girls’ bathrooms outside of the common rooms so she and Beatrice could be with Alice, Lily Potter, and Lucy Weasley.

Lily was fidgeting with her glasses. She had learned that she needed them over the summer and had stopped talking to her dad for a month.

“Do these hide my makeup? She asked Rose.

“Not at all, you look lovely,” Rose reassured her cousin. She was working on Lily’s gorgeous silky dark red hair. 

“I bet James will look so handsome tonight,” Beatrice was saying to Alice. Alice giggle and blushed. She had fallen head over heels for him.

Rose and Lily looked at each other through the mirror and made disgusted faces at each other.

“And Magnus is looking fine these days,” Alice said slyly to Beatrice. Magnus had asked her out of the blue to be his date last week. It was Beatrice’s turn to giggle shyly.

“Now that I can agree on,” Rose chortled. Magnus had gotten taller and toned over the year. 

“Rose, you still haven’t told us who you’re going with,” said Lucy, who was putting on lipstick. Rose saw Alice and Beatrice exchange looks.

“I asked someone I knew would say yes,” Rose said vaguely.

“She asked the asshat Cormac McLaggen Jr.,” said Alice.

Rose cousins made sounds of disgust.

“Eww...why Rose?” asked Lily. “He’s awful.”

“Er -- I wanted to make a statement,” she replied, knowing that saying that was a bad idea. Her friends were about to call her out.

“A statement? For who?” Lily pressed, getting out of her chair to look Rose in the face. Rose could feel the heat rising up her neck and to her ears.

“Erm…. for Scorpius,” she muttered almost imperceptibly. Beatrice dropped her hairbrush.

“I knew it!” Beatrice shrieked,” her face breaking into a giant smile. “You like him, don’t you!?”

Rose felt massively embarrassed, but it was out in the open now. She nodded.

“Rose, why didn’t you just tell Scorpius?” asked Alice, smiling gently.

Rose sat down and began putting on eyeshadow.

“I don’t want to mess up our friendship,” she answered. That was the simple truth. She was afraid Scorpius would reject her that way and make things eternally awkward. 

“I get that,” said Beatrice. “But you can’t fo on being mad at him for going to the dance with Lauren if you’re not honest with him…”

“I don’t even know if he likes me the same way I like him. Maybe it’s best I just try dating someone else and wait and see,” Rose suggested. “I can practice dating first…”

“I guess that’s one way to go about it,” Lucy said uncertainly.

Alice looked up at the clock on the wall.

“Shit guys, we need to hurry up!” she said. The conversation abruptly changed to make up and wardrobe again. 


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Scorpius’s POV 

Scorpius entered the Great Hall with Lauren clinging to his left arm. She honestly looked beautiful in her red dress, but trying to have a conversation with her was so dull and didn’t interest Scorpius in the slightest. She just wanted to talk about her friends and pass judgments on other students who she thought were dumb. He tuned her out and took in his surroundings.

The Great Hall looked so different. The enchanted ceiling showed that snow was softly falling outside. The long tables were pushed along the walls and were laden with delicious-looking food and drinks. There were even floating ice sculptures hovering just out of reach throughout the hall. Quite a lot of students were already on the dance floor, dressed in shimmering dresses and crips dress robes and suits. 

Scorpius and Lauren gravitated towards the wall on the right, and Scorpius got two glasses of punch. He passed a glass to Lauren. They stood there awkwardly, watching people arrive. He saw James Potter, looking smart, enter the hall with Alice Longbottom at his side. They seemed so happy, laughing at each other. Shortly after, Magnus and Beatrice arrived. Magnus had asked him last week if he thought Beatrice would want to go with him, and Scorpius told him he should go for it.

Lauren pulled him to the dance floor as a new song started playing. Scorpius bobbed along to the rhythm of the song as more students crowded around the floor. Lauren saw some of her friends and danced over to them, leaving Scorpius alone. He backed out of the dance floor and went back to his spot along the wall by the drinks. He looked up, and at that moment, Rose Weasley was standing in the doorway. She was wearing a slim-fitted navy-blue gown that showcased her curves. Her red hair was smooth and pulled up in an elegant twist. Her skin was radiant. Scorpius had to close his mouth consciously. Rose was fucking stunning. That when he looked at who’s arm she was holding.

“What the fuck!” he exclaimed aloud. He felt fury balling up in his stomach.

 _How could she!?_ Scorpius asked himself.

“Hey, Scorp!”

Scorpius turned rapidly, glaring at Albus Potter. Peter Nolan was right behind him, nonchalantly examing the food table. Scorpius took a deep breath in through his nose.

“Albus…” he tried to say calmly, but it came out sounding petulant.

“Did Lauren dump you again?” asked Albus.

“No,” snapped Scorpius. “I’m not even going out with her. I just agreed to go to the stupid dance with her.”

“What is it then?” Albus said, he looked like he was starting to get irritated with Scorpius. 

“How could Rose have agreed to go with _McLaggen_?!” spat Scorpius.

“Why don’t you just go ask her yourself?” Albus snapped back.

“Albus, I love this song!” Peter said, coming over to him and grabbing his hand. “Let’s go dance!”

Albus’s cheeks and ears turned red, just like Rose’s sometimes did. Albus told Scorpius he would find him later. Scorpius sat down in an empty chair and sulked. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Rose. 

Eventually, Rose and McLaggen stepped off the dance floor and approached the drink table nearby Scorpius.

“Oh -- hi Scorpius,” Rose said. Her face was flushed. He wanted to punch McLaggen again, this time in the face, and then swoop Rose back onto the dance floor and hold her close to him.

“Hey,” he said, looking across the room. He couldn’t make eye contact.

“Where’s your date?” asked Rose. 

“Obviously not here with me,” Scorpius said sardonically, gesturing to the empty space around him. He stood up and walked away from Rose and wandered out of the castle. He needed fresh air.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Rose’s POV 

Under McLaggen’s tough-guy facade, he was actually a relatively okay guy. He was just insecure, Rose learned. Not once was he rude to her or made fun of her friends. Maybe getting punched by Scorpius last year had made him rethink some things. And to top it off, he could really pull off a suit. Rose also discovered that he was very muscular once she began dancing with him and putting her hands on his arms, back, and chest. 

After her awkward encounter with a churlish Scorpius, she and Cormac went to sit and drink their punch while they caught their breath.

“Rose, I’d like to apologize for the way I behaved towards your last year,” said Cormac. “I just have always really admired you and think you’re pretty, and I didn’t know how to act around you.” He hung his head slightly.

“Thanks for sharing that with me,” said Rose. “May I ask a question?” 

Cormac nodded.

“Why did you think making me uncomfortable and picking on my friends would get you what you wanted?” she asked.

“It was stupid,” he said. “That’s why I hadn’t been talking to you think year. I didn’t know what to do… and then you asked me to this dance…”

“Well, I guess it’s in the past,” said Rose. “Do you want to dance some more?”

As they got back to the dance floor, the song ended, and a slow song began. Cormac looked at Rose and smiled sheepishly. He reached out his hand, and Rose took it, stepping close to him. She felt bold tonight. He put an arm around her back and pulled her very close to him. Rose’s heart began to race. She was not entirely sure about Cormac, but he seemed sure about her. At the end of the song, he leaned in for a kiss, and Rose let him kiss her.

It felt weird. Cormac’s lips were surprisingly soft and oddly warm. 

“Let’s go outside, he suggested, and Rose nodded her head. She was curious to find out more about kissing, and this could be good practice.

In the shadow of the castle wall, she leaned into McLaggen’s lips. 

***

A week later, McLaggen asked Rose if she wanted to accompany him to Hogsmeade. She agreed. He wanted to take her to madam Pudifoot’s. That’s where all the dating couples frequented. Rose hesitantly agreed to that as well.

Scorpius was no longer talking to her, and Albus tried to split his time between her, Scorpius, and his new friend Peter.

“Are you even that interested in McLaggen?” Albus asked her one afternoon.

“I guess so,” Rose answered despondently.

Alice and Beatrice didn’t seem to like McLaggen all that much but were supporting Rose still as she tested the waters.

After the Christmas break, Rose and Cormac began “dating” and were officially girlfriend and boyfriend. Rose found him rather dull, his jokes were not that clever, and he frequently needed help on understanding basic fundamentals of spell casting... but he seemed to genuinely like Rose. And Rose found it was nice to have someone there that actually gave her that kind of attention. He also really like snogging Rose. It was fun at first, but Rose was growing tired of him seek out every opportunity to get her alone to make out. As they start the second half of the year, Rose felt the familiar pressure to double down on her studies as Final Exams loomed in the back of her mind.

***

One rainy afternoon, Rose decided it was time to stop leading McLaggen on. She met him outside the Great Hall and asked if they could talk.

“Cormac, I think we need to break up,” said Rose bluntly. “I’m sorry.” 

“But why?” he asked, blinking at her.

“I just don’t see this working long term, and I don’t want to waste your time or my time,” she said, trying to be gentler.

“Erm… wow, I’m a waster of your time?” Cormac asked Rose, sounding hurt.

 _Shit,_ this is not how she wanted it to go. It was harder to break up with him than she had pictured it in her head. 

“I’m sorry, Cormac, truly,” said Rose. “I think you’re a good person, but not the right one for me. I don’t want you to take that personally, I think you will find someone who makes you very happy one day, and you will make them very happy…”

He looked sad and hurt by her words, but nodded.

“Okay, I’m going to go now,” said Rose. She leaned in and gave him an awkward hug and a pat on his shoulder. She pivoted and fled the scene.

She burst into the Ravenclaw common room. She needed to tell Beatrice. However, she saw Scorpius sitting alone on a couch reading a Muggle Studies textbook. He looked up, then quickly looked back to his book, brow furrowing. Rose walked over to him.

“I know you’re not speaking to me right now, but have you seen Beatrice around recently?” she asked her moody friend. 

He slowly looked up and met her eyes. His grey eyes were cold.

“I saw her go up to the dormitories about 20 minutes ago,” he answered monotoned. 

“Thank you,” Rose said, business-like. 

She went up to her room. Beatrice was stretch out on her bed, writing a letter.

“Hi Rose!” she smiled.

“Bee, I broke up with Cormac,” Rose announced. A feeling of relief washed over her, and she told Beatrice how the break up went.

***

A few weeks past and Scorpius slowly began talking to Rose again. Rose figured that he had initially been upset with her for going to the Winter Ball and then dating the one person he despised so much, but she never brought it up with him, and neither did he. They were falling back into the habit of studying in the library together and having whispered debates on Lord of the Ring theories (Scorpius had just finished the last book). Sometimes Alice or Beatrice would study with them. Othertimes, Albus would join them, and occasionally he brought Peter Nolan along. They weren’t exactly dating, but it seemed like, to Rose, that they were more than just friends.

After Easter break, 4th-years began their History segment on the Second Wizarding War. It was Albus’s turn to hide in the back row because Hogwart’s brought in Harry Potter to start the Lecture series. Uncle Harry began by talking of Tom Riddle’s unfortunate childhood, what was known of his time at Hogwarts, and the prophecy that foretold of Harry Potter himself, or so Tom Riddle believed. 

The students were entranced when Uncle Harry dove into the story of how the Dark Lord murdered his parents and how the killing curse backfired when Voldemort attempted to kill Harry. One student asked if he could take a closer look at Uncle Harry’s scar. Rose giggled quietly and turned to see Albus sinking so low in his seat that he was almost under the desk. 

A few weeks later, Rose’s mum came back to talk about the role of the Ministry of Magic and how the Ministry denied Voldemort’s return and their subsequent inaction. Her lecture got students asking many questions. 

The next week, Professor Thomas left his D.A.D.A. classroom to talk about what life was like on the run from snatchers after the Dark Lord seized control of the Ministry. He spoke of people who were murdered and captured.

Uncle Harry returned to explain how a certain Death Eater was tasked to kill Hogwart’s headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, but ultimately failed and was covered for by Severus Snape (who finished the job). Uncle Harry, Rose noted, took effort to avoid using the Death Eater’s name. She thought that was strange, seeing as he spoke of many other Death Eaters by name in the same lecture.

 _Maybe they’re still alive or something…_ wondered Rose.

During the last few weeks of school, the students at Hogwarts would not stop talking about Rose’s family. It was annoying being asked multiple times a day what it was like to live with the brightest witch of her time/also known as Rose’s mother. And they even pestered her about her Uncle Harry. Albus was in the same boat. 

Rose, Albus, and Scorpius spent a lot of time hiding out by the lake, where Albus would have silent conversations with the Giant Squid who would surface whenever Albus was nearby. 

The week before final exams were to begin, Professor Thomas, Rose’s mum, and her Uncle Harry were back to give their last joint lecture.

Rose took a seat next to Albus. Scorpius was sitting on his other side. Professor Thomas picked up where he left off.

“As I was saying last time,” began Professor Thomas. “I was on the run, and by chance, I met Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger while they were searching for Voldemort’s Horcruxes. We were captured by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback who was aligned with the Dark Lord. He brought us directly to the Malf…” Dean Thomas cut his sentence short as Hermione gave a pointed cough and looked in Rose’s direction. Professor Thomas cleared his throat and continued.

“He brought us to the Dark Lord’s headquarters, where we were locked up in a large cellar.”

“Voldemort was not present at that time,” picked up Hermione. “But there were Death Eaters at that house. They locked up my friends in the cellar but held me up above to interrogate me because they recognized me as muggle-born. What happened there is extremely hard for me to talk about, but all of you deserve to know the truth about what took place just over 20 years ago and learn it, so it is not repeated.

A Gryffindor girl raised her hand.

“Year, dear?” said Hermione.

“If I may ask, what happened in the interrogation? What information did they want?” asked Amelia Bones.

Several students around her said, “you can’t just ask people that” and other phrases along that line.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to answer that,” Amelia said.

“No,” said Hermione. I wouldn’t be here talking to you if I didn’t want you all to ask me questions. I was tortured with the Crutiartis Curse by Bellatrix Lestrange. She was Voldemort’s right-hand Death Eater. She wanted to know where my friends and I had gotten the sword of Gryffindor. The sword was a fake, and I told her that, but she didn’t believe me. After cursing me, she used a knife to carve the word ‘mudblood’ into my arm.”

Rose’s mum pushed up the sleeve of her cardigan to reveal her ugly scarring. She held her arm up high for everyone to see. The slur was still clear enough to read, etched into her skin. Some students gasped. Rose was in shock. Her parents had told her of all these events before, but _never_ in so much detail. She felt tears welling in her eyes.

Uncle Harry walked up next to his best friend and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Rose saw there were tears in her mum’s eyes too.

“We were able to escape with the help of a House-Elf who had access to the house,” said Harry Potter. “House-Elves magic is extremely powerful, and this elf was able to create a distraction long enough for me to grab some of the Death Eaters’ wand and for everyone to escape. However, Bellatrix threw her dagger at us as we were apparating away, and it struck Dobby, the House-Elf, and he was killed.” Rose heard her Uncle’s voice crack. Harry went on to talk about the Battle of Hogwarts, but Rose could no longer focus on what he was saying. She heard Scorpius on the other side of Albus taking long deep breaths. She and Albus looked over at him. His eyes were shut tight, his skin was even paler than usual, and his fists were clenched tightly.

“Are you okay, Scorpius?” whispered Albus. Scorpius started shaking. Albus turned back to Rose, looking concerned. 

Scorpius suddenly stood up and quickly left the room without a word to Albus or Rose, leaving his books, notes, and quill. Uncle Harry paused only for a moment, before continuing, trying to get the students to focus again. Rose met her mum’s look; there was a look of deep sadness and confirmation in her eyes. Rose began to comprehend why her friend was acting this way.

“I’m going after him,” Rose whispered to Albus. He nodded. Rose got up from her desk as quietly as she could and rushed out of the classroom. At this point, she didn’t care if her mum found out she was Scorpius’s friend.

Twenty minutes later, she still hadn’t found Scorpius. She checked the Great Hall, the library, the common room, and boys dormitories. She even asked Madam Longbottom in the Hospital Wing if Scorpius had come through. He was not there.

 _Where would he go to be alone?_ wondered Rose desperately.

She decided to try the Astronomy Tower before giving up her search. There were never many people there during daylight hours. Rose burst through the door to the roof of the tower, gasping for air after the climb.

There he was! He was sitting on the floor near the railings with his face in his hands. Rose could hear him crying. She approached him slowly.

“Scorpius…” she said softly. “I’m here. Will you talk to me?”

She heard him choke back a sob. Rose could see that his cheeks were blotchy from crying. She put her hand on his back and began to rub his shoulders, trying to provide comfort.

He took many shaky breaths trying to compose himself before looking up at Rose. His eyes were the color of storm clouds.

“Rose…” his voice cracked with emotion. “How can I go back?”

“Back where?” Rose didn’t follow.

“Back to my home, back to my parents, back downstairs.”

“What do you mean, Scorpius?”

“What happened to your mother happened in _my_ home and was done by _my_ family, you heard Professor Thomas almost say my family name, naming the Death Eaters’ headquarters,” Scorpius began sounding angry, his voice getting louder. “ _This_ is why your father told you not to befriend me. Honestly, I don’t blame him now.”

Scorpius… you are not your parents or your other relatives!” Rose said with compassion. “Things are different now. The world is different.”

“I can’t trust my parents,” Scorpius said. “They’ve lied to me by omission.” 

He seemed to Rose to be in a state of clarity and disbelief simultaneously. 

“My dad has never told me of the things that were asked of him by other Death Eaters and the Dark Lord,” Scorpius continued bitterly.

“Maybe it’s time you asked him directly,” suggested Rose. “Maybe he didn’t think you were ready to hear about it, or maybe he was ashamed or something.

Scorpius scowled.

“Scorpius, you know this doesn’t change my opinion of you or our friendship at all, right?” Rose let him know.

He looked into Rose’s eyes again, more tears falling from his eyes, his bottom lip was quivering. Rose leaned in and wrapped her arms around him and held him close to her. He was still trembling, but he tilted his head on her shoulder and began to breathe easier. They stayed like that for a long time. Rose was sure they were missing their Herbology class, but she didn’t really care. 

Rose’s leg began cramping, so she loosened her embrace and stretched out her leg. Scorpius cleared his throat. 

“I’m sorry you had to see me meltdown like this,” apologized Scorpius. Still sitting, he scooched closer to Rose, then leaned back against the side of the railings.

“No, don’t apologize, this is what friends are for,” said Rose.

“I’ve been a poor friend to you this year,” said Scorpius. “I should have been nicer to you when you were dating McLaggen.”

“Don’t say his name”, Rose laughed softly. “It’s okay, though. I kind of deserved it…” 

“What do you mean?” Scorpius asked her, looking confused.

She didn’t answer for a minute, unsure of how to explain herself.

“Err… to be honest, I only asked him to the Winter Ball to make you jealous since you agreed to go with your ex… but then things got away from me, and I went on a few too many dates with Cormac after the Ball… He’s not so bad, but it wasn’t right of me to lead him on…” Rose looked away, embarrassed. 

“You did all that to make _me_ jealous? Scorpius asked in surprise.

“Erm, yeah…” Rose replied, suddenly feeling very shy and vulnerable. “I, erm, I like you, Scorpius. Like, really like you… but I don’t want my feelings to ruin our friendship…” She felt her face redden.

Scorpius was silent for an eternity.

“Say something,” begged Rose, she nervously touched her ear, which was burning hot.

Scorpius turned to meet her gaze, a subtle smirk on his face.

“You really like me like that?” he asked her.

She nodded. Scorpius reached out to take her hand in his.

“Rose, you’re my best friend, and that’s made me confused about why I've been feeling certain things about you...but I think I like you more than just friends too…”

Rose’s heart palpitated. Scorpius got to his feet and pulled Rose up. He didn’t let go of her hands.

“If I knew you felt this way back before Christmas, I would have asked you to go to the Winter Ball with me,” said Scorpius. He let go of one of her hands to slowly brush a lock of hair behind Rose’s ear. Rose closed her eyes and shivered as his fingers touched her ear and slowly moved down her jawline.

If Rose had inherited any of her parent’s Gryffindor bravery, it surged through her now. She opened her eyes and looked into Scorpius’s grey eyes, closed the space between them, and pressed her lips to his. She reached up with her free hand to hold his slender cheek as she kissed him. Scorpius let go of the hand he was holding and wrapped his arms around Rose’s back, holding her tightly to him.

This kiss was nothing like Rose’s previous experiences. The second her lips touched his, it felt like electricity was racing through her entire body. They embraced for a long time; Rose wasn’t keeping track, taking pleasure in learning what his body felt like pressed up against her's. Scorpius’s hands were greedily exploring Rose’s back and neck, and Rose was running her fingers through Scorpius’s hair. Rose pulled back slightly to take a breath of air, and Scorpius took one step back, breathing hard.

“Damn, Weasley,” Scorpius said in a husky voice. Rose unconsciously pressed her fingers to her lips. She felt herself smiling.

“Malfoy… erm… wow…” her voice trailed off. She raised her eyes to meet Scorpius’s, feeling vulnerable again. They had entered new territory, and Rose was terrified and thrilled.

Scorpius began to laugh. It was contagious, and soon Rose was laughing too. He pulled Rose close to him again and hugged her and kissed the top of her head. Rose leaned her head against his shoulder, breathing in his scent. 

“What are we going to do now?” Scorpius asked Rose. A sudden feeling of panic coursed through Rose. She stepped back to think.

“We can’t tell our parents. That would go really bad,” Rose said, with concern in her voice. 

“This will be hard to keep from our friends here at school. They’ll find out... or guess. Albus and Magnus already know I like you,” Scorpius informed Rose.

“Albus already knows and didn’t say anything to me?!” Rose asked incredulously. 

Scorpius laughed.

“Your friends don’t know you like me?” he asked Rose in return.

“Erm, they do… Alice, Bee, Lily, and Lucy all know,” Rose admitted.

“Merlin’s Beard, that’s a lot of people,” Scorpius said.

“I trust all of them not to say anything. I would be more worried about my brother finding out and telling my dad. If my dad finds out, he might kick me out,” Rose said nervously.

“I doubt he’d kick you out, but he might track me down and he kind of scares me, if I’m being honest…” Scorpius smiled at Rose apologetically.

“We’ll figure it out,” Rose said, the feeling of joy beginning to bubble up inside her. “So does this mean we want to try ‘going out’?

“I think it does,” Scorpius said with a dorky lopsided grin on his face. The grin slowing disappeared as a thought crossed over Scorpius. “Thank you again for letting me get my feelings out earlier. I feel better about it, but I’m still angry at my dad. I guess I will have to confront him about the war when I go home this summer. Can I hug you again?” He brushed his fingers nervously through his hair. 

Rose immediately wrapped her arms around his waist.

“Our family histories are messed up, but maybe we can do better,” Scorpius whispered. Rose squeezed him tighter. Then, her stomach growled loudly. She let go of Scorpius and looked up at him. He gave her an impish look.

“I’m getting really hungry,” she said.

“Of course you are,” chuckled Scorpius. “Let’s go to the Great Hall.”


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Scorpius’s POV

Scorpius had never felt so happy and depressed at the same time. He and Rose had finally had their much-needed heart-to-heart and had learned that their feelings for each other were mutual. That made Scorpius feel exhilarated. What depressed him was learning about what happened to Rose’s mum and family while they were imprisoned at _ his own house  _ by  _ his own family.  _ He wasn’t sure how involved his father was in that story, but he was angry with him nonetheless. He also knew his dad was okay with him being friends with Albus Potter. Still, his dad seemed to avoid Rose’s parents at all cost, whenever discussing how things were at the Ministry (where Rose’s mum was heavily involved) or if Scorpius wanted to go into Weasley Wizard Wheezes in Diagon Alley. Scorpius had a feeling that it would be bad if he came home and told his parents that he was dating the daughter of Ron and Hermione Weasley. 

After dinner with Rose, Scorpius returned to the Ravenclaw common room, thoroughly exhausted, and went straight to bed. He slept restlessly that night. He dreamed of his dad’s laboratory in the cellar under the manor, but instead of cauldrons and ingredients lining the shelves and tables, there was Professor Thomas, Harry Potter, and a goblin on the floor with their hands tied behind their backs. And throughout this nightmare, he could hear a scream echoing around the walls. It was the same scream Scorpius had heard when Professor Thomas was demonstrating how to banish a boggart. In his dream, Scorpius ran up the stairs to the main level only to find that the scream was coming from Rose because his father was using the Cruciatus Curse on her.

Scorpius woke with a start. Magnus was shaking his shoulder.

“Scorpius, wake up! You’re having a nightmare or something,” Magnus said, eyes wide with concern. 

“What’s going on?” came Finley’s voice from the four postered bed on the other side of the room.

“Nothing, go back to sleep,” hissed Magnus, rolling his eyes.

“Well, keep it down, would you,” retorted Finey.

“Dude, shut up. I’m trying to sleep,” came another voice from the bed next to Finley’s.

Scorpius sat up. He felt sweat beading on his forehead.

“Just a bad dream,” he whispered in the moonlit room. “Thanks for waking me up out of that, Magnus.”

“You were thrashing around a bit and muttered something like ‘no’ a bunch, Magnus said. “You okay now?”

“I’ll be fine, just have a lot on my mind, go back to sleep,” Scorpius told his friend.

Scorpius tried to go back to sleep, but his mind was racing again. It was going to be another long day, but he smiled, thinking about his new relationship with Rose. 

***

Over the last few weeks of school, Scorpius’s parents wrote to him. They were checking in to see how he was doing since he hadn’t written to them in a long while, but he decided to ignore the letter for now. He didn’t feel like engaging with his parents, who had chosen to hide so much of Scorpius’s family history.

_ What else are they keeping from me?  _ Scorpius would often wonder to himself.

It didn’t take long for their friends to figure out about his secret relationship with Rose. Their friends were very happy for them.

“I knew this was going to happen,” Beatrice had said when Rose and Scorpius confirmed their suspicions. 

Rose was a totally different girlfriend than he ex, Lauren Lynch. For one, not much about their friendship had actually changed. They still studied for hours a day preparing for exams and still hung out in their friend’s group most of the time. The most significant difference was the knowing glances Rose would give him, or they would play footsie in the library after losing focus on whatever they were studying for too long. They occasionally stole kisses from each other whenever they found themselves momentarily alone. It made Scorpius smile just to think about it.

He and Rose were dreading the summer for multiple reasons. One, he would be forced to confront the Malfoy Manor, knowing about the things that transpired within its walls. Two, he would have to face his dad about the war. Three, in the past summers, Scorpius and Rose hadn’t felt the need to write to each other too much, and now they would have to pretend nothing had changed so their parents wouldn’t figure out they were friends (or more than friends). Now it would be way harder because Scorpius knew he would have trouble not being able to stop himself from writing to her occasionally. He was worried if owls coming in and out would cause his parents to question him. What if they found out?

***

Exams had come and gone, and Scorpius and Rose had tied again. Scorpius was starting to accept that they were equally matched, and it would be nearly impossible to ever get the edge over her in their school subjects. 

“Seriously,” Albus said loudly to his friends, “You’d think one of them would be better in one subject over another, but nooo!”

Rose rolled her eyes and subtly leaned into Scorpius’s shoulder. There were still trying to hide their relationship from the general public and most of Rose’s family, excluding Albus, Lily, James, and Lucy Weasley. Rose had to make Lucy swear not to tell Hugo, who was in the same year and house as her. 

On the train ride home, Scorpius snuck her into the luggage compartment so they could talk in private. He knew what their friends were thinking, but he didn’t care.

“I’m going to miss you terribly,” said Rose, clasping his hands in hers. 

“I’ll miss you like crazy too… Albus wants me to come over to his house this summer. Maybe I can see you then?” Scorpius said. He knew it would be risky to see her with parental eyes watching over them. Mr. and Mrs. Potter might be able to tell they were more than just friends. But, Scorpius believed that two months apart would feel like forever and just wanted to be able to touch her again, even if it was brief. 

“Maybe so,” Rose answered a moment later.

Scorpius moved closer to her and bent his head down to kiss Rose. Her lips felt as smooth and soft as flower petals. With their emotions running high, their kiss got heated. Scorpius had Rose backed up against a stack of trucks. He lifted her with ease and placed her on top of the trunks. She wrapped her legs around his torso.

The door to the luggage room swung open, and the trolley witch walked in.

“What the ---” she exclaimed as Scorpius broke away from Rose. His face must have turned pink, as he could feel his face getting hot with embarrassment. 

“Get back to your seats and stop fooling around back here,” said the witch, shaking her head.

They didn’t need telling twice. As Scorpius closed the door behind him, he heard the witch muttering to herself, “Every year, for the love of Merlin!”

Rose and Scorpius started laughing. Back in their compartment, Albus was sitting next to Peter Nolan, discussing a write up on Puddlemore United’s latest match in the sports section of the Daily Profit. Albus looked up when Scorpius held the door open for Rose, knowingly raising his eyebrows. Rose blushed. In the seats across from Albus and Peter sat Beatrice and Magnus. Beatrice leaned over to whisper something in his ear, and then they burst into a fit of giggles. It didn’t bother Scorpius, who smiled happily at his friends. Magnus got up and went to sit by Albus so Scorpius could sit by Rose. They all passed the time in good companionship. 

Soon enough, the train pulled into the station, and the kids began standing up and filling the narrow aisle and pushing their way to the front. Scorpius and his friends stood up. They all began wishing each other well over the summer and promised to write. Beatrice, Magnus, and Peter filed out of the compartment and into the aisle. Albus stopped to give Scorpius a brotherly hug.

“I’ll write to you about coming to Godric’s Hollow,” Albus said. He left Rose alone with Scorpius.

“Well, this is it for a while, I suppose,” Rose said solemnly.

“Don’t be too sad,” said Scorpius. “I’m happier just knowing you actually like me for some reason.” He gave her a grin.

Rose stuck her lip out, pouting.

“Alright, Malfoy,” she said. 

“You go first,” said Scorpius. “So, they don’t get suspicious.”

Rose nodded and walked out of the compartment. She turned back to look at him once more before being pushed along by students leaving the train. Scorpius felt a gentle ache in his heart. This summer was going to feel extra long.

***

Scorpius had been so wrapped up in his thoughts of Rose and their relationship that it wasn’t until he saw his parents standing towards the back of the station that he remembered that he never responded to their last few letters inquiring on his wellbeing.

His mum saw him approaching from afar and must have told his father, who turned towards the crowd Scorpius was pushing through to get to them.

“Hi mum and dad,” he said cautiously. They stared at him for a moment, and then his mother pulled him into an embrace and kissed the side of his head. Scorpius was now taller than his father. Her love felt so familiar that Scorpius momentarily forgot he was still angry at his parents. Astoria stepped back to look at her son square in the eyes. 

“Why have you not replied to our letters?” she asked him, clearly expecting him to have a good excuse.

“Tori, can we not do this here?” his father said tiredly.

“Fine,” said Astoria, sounding bothered.

They collected Scorpius’s truck and belonging and began the drive home. Apparently, his parents felt like driving his things home this year was easier than shipping it back home as they had done in the past. 

The drive was awkward and uncomfortable for Scorpius. He stared at his dad, who was driving the car, wondering how many skeletons he had in his closet. Scorpius’s mum fussed at him for ignoring her letters, for which he apologized but would not tell her why he didn’t respond. Draco only added a few words.

“The least you can do for your mother is write a reply to her. We work hard so you can enjoy your Hogwarts education,” his father told him.

“I thought we had a lot of money,” said Scorpius, instantly regretting the words as they came out. 

His mother let out a single “HA!” laugh, shaking her head.

“Show some respect, so,” his father said sharply. “In fact, the family fortune has been in steady decline over the last decade or so.”

“Your school tuition on top of maintaining the manor costs a small fortune every year. You are old enough to be aware of that now,” his mother said briskly.

“I’d be aware of more if you both would actually tell me things,” snapped Scorpius.

His mum gasped at Scorpius’s audacity. He was aware this level of disrespect was out f character for him, but he didn’t care.

His mum began a nagging tirade about respecting parents and speaking out of turn, but Scorpius tuned it out and retreated into himself. He once noticed his father’s eyes flicking to him in the rear-view mirror, but he never said anything.

Finally, they pulled up to the large wrought-iron gates. The gates swung open magically, and they drove through. Draco parked the car outside of a side entrance to the manor. Scorpius did not move to get out.

“Tori, can you give me a while to speak to Scorpius alone?” Draco asked in a hushed voice. There was an emotion there that Scorpius was not familiar with in his father. His mum nodded and went inside.

Draco turned in his seat to look at his son. He didn’t say anything; he just studied Scorpius.

“I can’t go in there,” Scorpius cracked under the pressure of his dad’s gaze. “How can you stand living in a place where so much evil happened?”

His dad was silent for a while. Scorpius looked to his dad for answers, but Draco Malfoy’s grey eyes were glazed over like he was seeing memories of the past flash by. Against his will, Scorpius felt tears begin to build up. He was angry and upset with his dad.

Dad… tell me,” Scorpius demanded. Draco frowned.

Scorpius…” began his dad, delicately. “I had plans to explain everything when I thought you were old enough. I see now you are past ready, and it was wrong of me to keep you in the dark about our past.” Scorpius turned away from his father and looked out the window.

“The school sent me a letter informing me that History of Magic would run differently, continued Draco. “I wasn’t aware 4th-years would be covering the Second Wizarding War, however. Is this why you are upset with me?”

Angry tears, against Scorpius’s will, spilled out of his eyes. He roughly brushed them away. 

“Scorpius, I’m willing to talk to you if you have questions,” his dad said softly. 

“Did you ever kill anyone when you were a Death Eater?” Scorpius asked, fearful of the answer, but needing to know. His father was quiet for a moment.

“Many of my actions were unforgivable, but I never killed anyone. I will tell you what you need to know, but let’s get out of the car first. Okay?

Scorpius nodded and got out of the car. Draco walked towards a bench in the front garden and took a seat, and Scorpius joined on the other side of the bench.

Over the next hour or so, Scorpius’s father told him about the political maneuvering, and the high collar crimes of their ancestors committed to attain wealth and status. He told him of how his grandfather went to school with and associated with Tom Riddle and how Lucius and Narcissa became too entangled to turn away from the Dark Lord. It was serve or be killed along with everyone you loved. Draco told Scorpius how his grandparents felt they had no choice, but that was wrong. They did have a choice but made the wrong one. He told Scorpius how he was initiated as a Death Eater at age 16 and showed him he Dark Mark. It served as a permanent reminder of his failures and wrong-doings. He told Scorpius how he was tasked with assassinating the most powerful wizard alive, Albus Dumbledore, and how he wasn’t able to go through with it. He told him how he never wanted to kill anyone. And because he failed, his mentor, Severus Snape, had to finish the job because he was bound by an Unbreakable Vow to protect Draco… and that failure ultimately got Snape killed by Voldemort. He told Scorpius how Voldemort tried killing Harry Potter again during the battle; and how his grandmother was sent to check his body to find out if he was dead. Narcissa had lied to the Dark Lord, thus saving Harry’s life. He told Scorpius about how Harry Potter had bested him and won his wand and how that wand was used by Harry to finally end Voldemort’s life.

Scorpius said nothing through all of this. He couldn’t meet his father’s gaze. Draco paused for a couple of minutes, and they sat there in silence.

“I struggle with my guilt every day. It is my curse for the sins of my past,” Draco added. “There are many parts of me that I cannot forgive, and some days are harder than others. I’m sure you’ve noticed how I’m not always with it… I’m now the kind of person my younger self would have shamed or tormented. I hope you can forgive me for not burdening you with this knowledge before now. I don’t expect you to forgive me for who I used to be… I love you, Scorpius. You have given me hope.”

Scorpius didn’t know how to respond. He looked up at his dad’s face and saw his dad had tears falling from his eyes. 

“I, erm… just need time to think,” Scorpius said honestly. His dad nodded, wiping under his eye with a finger.

“You can ask me all of your questions when you’re ready,” said his father, standing up. “Your mother is frustrated, but I will go tell her what was really bothering you. Please come in for dinner.” Draco walked back to the manor, flicked his wand at the car, and the boot popped open. Scorpius’s dad levitated Scorpius’s things into their home. Scorpius sat there for a few more minutes, processing all of what his dad told him, then decided to go in to apologize to his mother for being rude to her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> End of Years 2-4.
> 
> I am working on writing Year 5. I'm excited to finally be working with Rose, Scorpius, and Albus as they are getting older and more complex! I'm debating with myself on how juicy to make it. I might keep this series Teen-rated... and do some Mature one-shots in addition. 
> 
> Thanks for following along! I appreciate all of my readers! Please leave reviews.


End file.
